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by hairdye_silverfindings



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Bilbo and Thorin are DOMESTIQUE, Dubious Content, Dubious Morality, Fili is angst, M/M, Modern AU, Thorin's A+ Parenting, future sex, student/teacher realtionship, teenage angst, the sex is now here.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-11-24
Packaged: 2017-12-21 14:23:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/901308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hairdye_silverfindings/pseuds/hairdye_silverfindings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mother sickly and father dead, the Durinson brothers have no where to go but their Uncle's house in Belegost. They have vised many times, lived there with him before, but Fili is thrown into a whirlwind of uncertainty that generally accompanies young adulthood and the inheritance of his family's business. He is saved by an odd little shop teacher at his school, Bofur Broadbeam, who reaches a hand down and pulls him out of the mess life leaves him in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Miss My Mom and Dad for This?

**Author's Note:**

> Well. I've got a terrible weakness for modern AU high school fanfictions, it was only a matter of time really... So here this is. I don't know why but i was having a really difficult time writing both Fili and Kili and it just... so pardon any OOC-ness, and if you have any comments or suggestions, please MAKE THEM.
> 
> My friend summarized this story like this: fili is angst. kili is 3. bilbo and thorin is DOMESTIQUE. Modern AU... That was a very early draft, mind you...

**Chapter 1: I Miss My Mom and Dad For This?**

Fíli glanced out of the window, both headphones in his music turned all the way up. He thought that maybe, just maybe the music would drowned out everything and the next time he blinked he wouldn’t be in the situation he was in now. He wasn’t so lucky. The boy closed his eyes once, for a long time, hoping he’d open them to find his old ceiling, but it wasn’t. It was the blur of scenery. He leaned forward and rested his head on the window. The glass fogged up with his exhale. Fíli watched the black rocks and green hills roll by. The car made it way across the twisty roads until it slowed and Fíli opened his eyes again, watching as the town popped up into view, colorful houses sprawling before looming mountains. Finally the car turned off the main road and followed a smaller street up, up, up, into a small neighborhood, and after a few more turned they pulled into the driveway of a light brown house three story house, almost over taken by vines, a spire climbing off part of it, an old blue Rambler parked father in the round driveway. Fíli’s uncle shifted into park and got out of the driver’s seat, Fíli sat in the passenger seat before Kíli poked him in the ribs and he got out, his younger brother shuffling out of the middle of the bench seat. Thorin stood before his nephews and shrugged.

“This is it.” he said and nodded toward the door. “Come on inside.” He walked up the stairs, leaving the bothers next to the truck, both with their singular rucksacks, Kíli following before his older brother. The interior of the house was conspicuously clean and well cared for, a strong contrast to the yard and the owner. It was bright inside, and warm, 'homey' for anyone but the two brothers. Last time Fili had seen their uncle the inside had been a typical bachelor pad, things piled on top of things, dishes soaking in the sink, ashtrays on every surface. And that had been familiar, home and comforting. But now. It was like walking into someone else's life.

“Uh, your rooms are at the top of the stairs if you want to go get settled.” Thorin said pointing. “Kíli yours is at the end of the hall on the right. Fíli you’ve got the turret room”

“So considerate.” Fíli muttered as his brother started up the stairs.

“Fíli.” Thorin replied, grabbing his nephew as he started for the stairs also, Kíli stopping halfway up. Thorin gave him a look, an understanding one and Fíli nodded slowly as the door opened again, and a man entered. The Durin family turned to watch him, he was short with a head of curly blonde hair. The man wore a dark jacket that was speckled with rain. He looked up as he dropped his keys on the table next to the door.

"Oh. Hello.” He smiled. “Fíli, and Kíli I presume? Bilbo Baggins, at your service.”

Fíli,”

“And Kíli”

“At yours….” The boy said looking to their uncle, who opened and closed his mouth a few times before putting his hands on his hips.

“Right. Yeah. Good.” Thorin nodded “You’ve all met. Now, Fíli, I was saying, your room is in the turret”

“Hold up.” Fíli said looking between the man who’d entered, with his pocket handkerchief and waistcoat (since when had waistcoats come back into fashion?) to his uncle, with a tangled ponytail and leather jacket.

“Who is this, Boggins person?” His brother finished his thought for him.

Thorin rubbed the back of his head and pulled a few faces. “He’s uh… He lives here. With me. Like… as a partner.”

“Like a gardener?” Kíli asked from the stairs.

“No.” Fíli answered. “Like a lover.” He turned from the pair of men and started for the stairs as Kíli smirked and wolf whistled at his uncle. “Let’s go.” Fíli told his brother grabbing his arm and pulling him up the stairs disappearing down the hall. Once both boys were gone, and Fíli’s door was slammed, Thorin slumped, rubbing his forehead, and breathing deep. Bilbo crossed to him and wrapped his arms around him, holding him softly. Thorin opened his mouth and Bilbo shushed him.

"It's okay. It's a bad situation." He whispered "He'll be okay."

"I hope so."

*

The room was a maze of cardboard boxes, each of them specifying that they were Fíli’s, with a detailed list of the inventory of each box. Fíli had spent every afternoon in his old room making the lists. They had been his excuse for staying indoors while all the other teenagers were making bad choices. They had been his excuse for staying home, for avoiding people asking if he was okay, if his mom was alright. Of course she wasn't alright. But it wasn't as if the concerned glances helped at all. So he'd stayed home, packing, making lists, listening to loud music.

Fíli crossed to one tower of boxes and moved a few boxes before opening one with his switch blade and digging around until he pulled out his stereo, a small black box that he plugged into the outlet next to his new bed, plugging his phone in and pushing play. More loud music. The bed was done up with colorfully striped sheets and a comforter. It was as if his uncle's boyfriend had tried to make the room welcoming for Fíli. Fíli rolled his eyes and stripped the bed quickly, dumping the bedding in the hall. He had his own sheets thank you very much.

Inside the room again he kicked off his boots, letting him fall, slumped like old skin at the end of his bed, his leather jacket draped over the footboard. Fíli jumped onto the bed leaning against the head board and exhaling slowly before digging into his rucksack, pulling out a hand-rolled cigarette from his case, lighting it and pulling his knees to his chest as Korpiklaani and tobacco smoke filled his room.

He didn't know how long he sat there, using a soda can as an ashtray, but finally there was a knock on the door and Thorin entered his room, stepping over the bedding with a look.

"I hope you didn't burn a hole in those sheets." Thorin said standing at the door. Fíli opened his eyes shook his head.

"No. Its just that I have my own sheets." He said. "They're mustard yellow." He added.

"I know." Thorin said sitting on the bed with a small smile. "I'm sorry. I should have told you about Bilbo."

Fíli shrugged and tapped off his ashes as his uncle lit up his own cigarette. "It's okay. Just. It's like everything is suddenly different." He shrugged again.

“I know. And it was wrong of me to think it would be alright to throw you into a situation without tell you all the details.” Thorin said patting Fíli’s knee. “But you will give Bilbo a chance? He’s a very nice man. He makes me laugh.”

“I haven’t seen you laugh since dad’s funeral.” Fíli muttered.

“Blasphemy! Do not spread lied about me child!” Thorin laughed reaching out and ruffling Fíli’s hair.

“Hey ya! Don’t touch my hair!” The teenager replied laughing and waving his hand in front of himself blindly.

“Don’t speak lies!” Thorin retorted as his laughter subsided and his nephew tried to pat down his hair. "Bilbo's gonna think you stripped the sheets because you hate him." Thorin sighed looking toward the door.

"He did give me 12 year-old girl sheets." Fíli smiled a little reaching to relight his cigarette. "I'll apologize to him." Thorin smiled too.

"Good." He stood then, and nodded looking around the room ."Well. I'll leave you to y'know, get everything sorted."

"Thorin?" Fíli asked as Thorin started to leave. "When are we gonna get to see mom?"

"Soon." Thorin replied.

"Really?"

"I hope."

Fíli retreated from his cave of cigarette smoke when Bilbo stuck his head in to announce dinner, a statement that Fíli tried to hide his enthusiasm about, but failed at as he jumped from his bed, yanking his phone from the headphone jack on the stereo. Bilbo seemed pleased to have received this response, and ignored the bedding piled at the door. Bilbo left the room, but was soon chased down by the teenager, the boy was taller then Bilbo, by at least four inches and he was the short one in his family.

"I'm sorry about earlier." Fíli said shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt. "And the sheets," He added quickly. "It's not like I don't like them, well I don't, and I don't hate you, I just, I have my own see...?"

Bilbo looked up at the youth and smiled "It is perfectly fine. I understand." Fíli smiled a touch before Bilbo added "I didn't lose my parents young, and I could never try to understand your pain, but know that I am here, should you ever need to talk to someone."

A muscle in Fíli’s jaw clenched and he said quietly "My mom ain't dead yet." Bilbo opened his mouth once more to say that he was aware, but the younger sibling rushed up the stairs to grab hold of his brother's hand and, with excited words, exclaimed that there was actual food downstairs, like with meat and vegetables and gravy, oh by the King of Kazad-dûm, they had _gravy_.

"Fíli, come on, you've just got to see this spread!" Kíli crowed pulling his brother along, down the stairs and into the kitchen, where there was a roast chicken sitting in a glass dish with all manner of colorful root vegetables, purple potatoes and carrots and rutabagas and parsnips and onions, all floating in the fat and juices of the chicken.

"See?!" Kíli happily exclaimed "Not that frozen stuff you used to make." Fíli nodded, his eyes a tad wide with amazement at the food before them. Their uncle stood before the stove, carving up the bird, as his nephews crowded him happily trying to pick at the bird while he cut it into manageable pieces. Bilbo watched from the door, amused by the brothers, and yet still bothered by the look Fíli had given him in the hall, he had not meant to offend the boy, and yet, it seemed like he had done just that.

"What would you boys like to drink?" Bilbo asked finally, shaking himself as he watched them serve themselves, their fingers slick with grease.

"I'll have a lager, yeah?" Fíli said, only his uncle catching the narrow smirk on his nephew's lips.

"He's kidding." Thorin announced at Bilbo's entirely concerned look. "He's totally... kidding." Thorin shot his older nephew a look and Fíli’s eyes danced with a dark light. "Stop it, yeah? Stop." He gave Fíli a look and pointed at him with a finger that's nail was black as soot, dead from being smashed at work.

"Fine," Fíli said still smirking as he made an apologetic gesture. "Just root beer then, if you've got it."

“I’ll be the one having the lager then.” Kíli nodded jumping up on the counter.

“You couldn’t hold your liquor if they paid you.” Fíli rolled his eyes as he stuffed a chuck of chicken into his mouth. His brother shot him a look and smirked.

“I’m not the one who woke up after a party in our linen closet now am I?” Kíli asked as Fíli shout him a dirty look from the door joining the kitchen to the dinning room, eyes wide as he turned to glance at his uncle. Thorin gave him a disapproving glance and Fíli let out a sheepish smile,

"Don't tell mom?" He suggested and Thorin shook his head minutely as the group proceeded into the dinning room.

"Oh no she's going to here about this." He said as they took seats around the table and the boys made no motion to use their utensils, digging into the chicken and vegetables and gravy with their bare hands. Bilbo watched them with wide eyes and flat expression before turning to share the look with his lover. Thorin shrugged before starting in on his own meal, with a knife and fork mind you.


	2. Stops My Bones From Wondering Just Who I Am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any horrible grammer or spelling errors. I try to catch them but everywhere some slip past my nets.

**Chapter 2: Stops My Bones From Wondering Just Who I Am.**

There was a mountain drawn on his paper. No notes. Just a magical mountain in green pen. Fíli Durinson glanced up and frowned at the white board full of math notes. He could have sworn he'd been taking notes. He glanced over at Ori across the class room. His cousin didn't seem to have anything written on his paper either, but Ori apparently excelled at math. Heel he was a freshmen in Algebra 2. Fíli frowned back at his paper. how could his cousin understand all of this.

"Durinson?" Their new teacher stood looking directly at him.

Fíli’s head shot up. instinctively pulling his notebook closer to him. "Yeah?"

"Tell me what the factoring for this equation is." He said looking at Fili over the top of his glasses, which he wore on the very tip of his nose.

"Uh..." Fíli’s eyes darted around the board just trying to find the equation. "Um.... I... I don't.... I don't know."

"I know you don't." Their teacher put his hands, closed into fists, on his hips "I know you don't, maybe if you didn't spend so much time drawing you would. This isn't art class, Fíli Durinson, this is math class." their teacher seemed to have trouble understanding Fíli’s name was not 'FIL-i' it was 'FEEL-i' "How about you? Can you factor this?" Their teacher motioned to Ori who promptly smiled and proceed to factor out x2 + 7x +12. Their teacher looked back at Fíli.

"Your cousin can do it. And he's a freshmen."

"Yeah. Alright. Sorry." Fíli mumbled looking back at his magical mountain and proceeded to draw a dragon next to it, labeling it- Mr Smaug, the name of his math teacher.

"Mr. Durinson." Smaug said as the class filtered out, calmly restacking the papers on his desk. "Come here." Fíli watched his cousin leave the room, free from the wrath of their math teacher.

"Uh.... I gotta go." Fíli said looking to the door once more.

"I'm sure you can bare to be separated from your family for just a moment." Smaug smiled.

"But." Fíli sighed "I gotta go pick up my little brother. And my uncle will worry."

"I'll write you a note. I'm sure Thorin Durinson will understand." Smaug smiled again as Fíli slowly approached his desk. "Now, I've noticed that you're struggling in my class." Fíli swallowed and fiddled with his hair, tugging on the braid that his brother had done last night, the rest of his hair pulled back into a low ponytail. "I want you to succeed, I do. But you're not going to be able to pass at this rate."

"Yeah. I know." Fíli mumbled "I'm sorry. I just. I'll try harder."

Smaug pursed his lips and sighed "I don't know it that'll be enough, now I am going to recommend getting a tutor... Ah Mr Broadbeam, I'll be right with you," Fíli turned to see a man standing at the back of the room, of fair height with a dark bristly mustache and a Russian trapper hat. The man had a cheery face, and was wearing a green sweater with brown buttons that was mis-buttoned. There was something Fíli found strangely endearing about the man, "Or even asking your cousin for help," Smaug said directing Fíli’s attention back to him, watching as Smaug leaned forward and put on his 'I understand you' face. "I understand what you're going though, with the move and your mother, but life goes on and I doubt that Dis Durinson would like to see her eldest son fail algebra 2--"

Listen, Mr Smaug," Fíli snapped "I get it. I'll try harder. But I really, really need to go get my brother, so please can I go now? My little brother is waiting." And he turned to leave, his bag knocking into one of the desks. As he left he pushed past Mr Broadbeam with his funny hat and mis-buttoned sweater, trying to get out of the classroom before the tears welling up in his eyes spilled over. He rushed quickly across the quad and down the stairs to the parking lot. He had to stop and take a deep breath before he could unlock the door his hands were shaking so bad, and the keys jangled in his hands, he didn't even noticed that the window was rolled down.

Throwing his backpack in the backseat of the Rambler, Fíli sat in it for a moment, his hands tight, knuckles white, on the leather clad steering wheel. Thorin had handed him the keys to the Rambler Sunday night, saying he was sorry they had to sell his other car. Fíli had nodded and taken the keys and gone out and sat inside the little blue car and listened to his phone and wanted nothing more then to text his mother.

Fíli leaned his head forward with such a severity that when his forehead hit the steering wheel it honked the horn, and he jerked back in surprise, biting his tongue. Checking the lithe muscle in the review mirror he mentally chastised himself as he watched blood well up along the side. When Fíli looked up he saw the teacher with the funny hat watching him for the stairs, a cigarette in his hand. He waved as Fíli started the car, Fíli threw the car into the gear and glanced back at Mr Broadbeam in his mirror before headed off toward the middle school to find his brother sitting on one of the cement planters. The middle school got out earlier then the high school anyway, and now Kíli had been forced to sit and wait even longer. Fíli greeted him with a half smile as Kíli slid into the passenger seat. Fíli turned down the radio, All-American Rejects playing on only in the background.

"Sorry I'm late." He said pulling out of the middle school. "I got held after class."

"It's okay." Kíli said and there was a light silence before he launched into a detailed explanation of his day at school, talking the whole drive home apparently forgiving his brother for being late.

They came in though the kitchen, silent as they could be, stopping briefly to steal themselves two- or six- of Mr. Baggins' biscuits, greedily munching on them in his homely kitchen, crumbs falling on this jackets.

"Do you think Mr Boggins will mind us eating these?"

"Probably. Don't tell him okay? Uncle will kick us if he finds us harassing the boy too much,"

"But where's the fun in that?"

"I never said 'don't'. I said don't let uncle catch us. Listen better."

"My listening is fine however," A voice for the door called and Fíli and Kíli turned to see their uncle watching them with shirt bottoms full of biscuits. "Saving up for the apocalypse, boys?"

"Thorin." Fíli smiled. "Hi."

"Where are these biscuits Thorin?" Someone roared from the other room and a towering figure appeared behind Thorin, shaved head, tattooed.

"My nephews were just bringing them in." Thorin smiled "You remember Dwalin don't you? Dwalin with is Fíli, and Kíli" He motioned and Dwalin shook their hands before taking the biscuits from them, replacing them on the plate and carrying it off. Kíli seemed to be in a state of shock. Dejected and caught the boys started for the stairs. 

"Fíli, would you come down here please?" Thorin was standing with his back to Fíli, hands clasped. Fíli swallowed and retreated from the stairs.

"Thorin?" he asked twisting his hands. In the living room sat Gandalf and Balin, Dwalin he presumed was routing around in Bilbo's kitchen.

"I got a call from your math teacher today." Thorin said turning to look at his nephew.

"Yeah...?" He responded, trying to decide when Smaug had called his home. "I know. That's why I'm late. I'm sorry." Thorin nodded slowly.

"This is unacceptable, Fíli. You are heir to one of the largest gem mining and import companies in the country, and you risk high school failure, because of a math class?" Gandalf announced turning from his pipe in hand, to stare down the 18-year-old in ripped jeans and combat boots and a t-shirt with some kind of band logo and a jacket with little shoulder studs.

"Gandalf," Fíli started. The other man had practically been a grandfather to him, in his prim suits and curled mustache. "I'm sorry. I'll do better. Its hard. I'm trying as best I can!" He turned desperately to his uncle. "Please, don't tell Mom, please." he added. "Please. I'll get a tutor and everything."

"Precisely." Gandalf said standing and pursing his lips "That is why Master Balin is here, to teach you, which is what that dirty lair Smaug should be doing." He nodded once and Fíli stared between them all.

"So.... We're not going to tell my mom?" He asked hopefully.

"Oh no, Dís knows already." Thorin said. "She's not pleased either, by the way." Fíli groaned unhappily and retreated upstairs to lay face down on his bare mattress until Kíli arrived in his room to just on his back and inform him that dinner was on the table. Fíli again ate only with his hands.

*

Fíli had altogether dreaded math class the next day, trying everything he could to avoid that section of the school until he absolutely had to go to class, and that was only after dawdling with his bag straps and was forcibly drug to class by his cousin. Fíli and Ori arrived outside the classroom all of the students chatting happily outside the classroom all seemingly widely excited.

"What's going on?" Ori asked as they showed up outside the room, Ori's hand disappeared from Fíli’s coat, the other boy slouching and leaning his head against a pillar outside the room.

"The Dragon isn't here" one of the girls replied and Fíli looked up expectantly. Within two days of class he understood why they called Smaug 'The Dragon'.

"Are you fucking kidding?" Fíli asked pushing past them to try the door, it was locked, and uncommon happenstance when Smaug was present. "FUCK YEAH!" Fíli shouted "Thank Mahal." He leaned forward with a happy sigh as there were noises behind him, someone coming though the crowd.

"Excuse me," They said tapping him on the shoulder. "I need to get in, lad." Fíli turned to see Mr Broadbeam from the other day. He had a very ugly patchwork scarf twisted around his neck, and a warm smile on his face.

"Oh yeah. Sorry." Fíli murmured backing up and letting Mr Broadbeam by, tugging on one of his braids as the older man brushed by him, unlocking the room and letting the class inside. Fíli entered last, slowly moving to his desk, stealing quick glances at the teacher at the board who was quickly scrawling his name across it, Bofur Braodbeam spelled out in expo marker.

"So, yeah alright, listen up now." He said turning to the class, "As you all know, probably, I ain't some kinda math teacher. I'm the shop teacher. Now Mr Smaug had a family emergency and had to rush off so I'll be teachin' yah today." He smiled once more. "Which it seems your actual teacher didn't leave any kinda lesson plan for the day.... I suppose you all are just gonna have to find something to do..." He rocked back on his heels and smiled again, the rest of the class grinning victoriously to one another as Mr Bofur Broadbeam walked back to his desk. Fíli smiled along with the rest of them and dug out his book, one for class, one that that he was 8 chapters behind in. But Fili seemed to not be able to concentrate of the words, to reason why anyone would set fire to an island as a joke, and finally his desk was invaded by his classmates, interrupting his reading completely.

"Hey." The tallest one said, pulling the chair in front of Fíli’s desk over as an other, this one with dark hair, sat backwards in another. "You're Fíli right?"

"Uh..." Fíli started putting his book down slowly. "Yeah."

"Herc," The blonde one smiled holding out a hand.

"This is Jason."

"Hi." Fíli nodded shaking their hands. "What's uh, up?"

"Well, we saw your patch, on your jacket," Jason said and Fíli bent around to look at the patch on his coat before looking back at Jason. "And we figured that you didn't have any friends yet.”

"Thanks." Fíli said with a roll of his eyes.

“We were wondering if you wanted to go to a show this… what day is it?” Herc asked looked at Jason.

“Saturday. At like. 7:00.” Jason nodded. ‘Well. 8:00 really, cause the first band that’s playing is shit. Like actual shit. It’s 3 bucks.”

“And we were thinking we could hang out before the show, and like get burgers. You eat meat right?” Herc asked searching Fíli’s face. “Cause you look like one of those kids that could go either way. Meat or… no meat.”

Fíli was silent for a moment before saying, “Are you asking whether I’m gay… or if I’m a vegan. Cause in bed I can swing either way, but at the dinner table, I’m a conservative. Meat and potatoes.” He made a motion indicating one side of the desk in equal proportions to the other. All three of them shared a laugh and phone numbers before the class ended, and they parted ways in the parking lot, Herc and Jason getting into a soft-top Jeep without the sides, while Fíli shivered at the though of driving around in that car and unlocked his own.

“Hey. Hey!”

Fili looked up as he turned the key in the lock and watched as Mr Broadbeam rushed across the parking lot toward him. The older man was smiling with his silly hat and itchy scarf, a book in his hand.

“Fíli, yeah?” He asked as he reached Fíli’s car. Fíli nodded. “Yah forgot this.” He held out the book Fíli ad been reading in class. “I thought I should return it, Smaug tends to have an unfortunate end for books left in his hands.”

“Oh. Yeah well. Thanks.” Fíli nodded taking the book.

“Do yah, uh… read often? I noticed the book was well read…” Mr Broadbeam looked down at the book in Fíli’s hands, the boy’s fingers moving over the bent cover.

“I read. Yeah. But not… I’ve never read this before.” Fíli said looking back at the other man, at his dark eyes. “Its my uncle’s boyfriend’s copy. For uh, class y’know.” He wiggled the paperback in his grasp. “But I read. Poetry mostly. Sometimes. Most of the time. Sort of.” Fíli cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

Mr Broadbeam smiled “I’m uh, Bofur Broadbeam by the way,” He said holding out his hand, shuffling the papers in his arms. “Shop teacher by day, toy maker by night.”

“Oh, Fíli Durinson, BoyWonder, god of poetry, prince to Arkenstone Gem Imports.” Fíli said shaking the other’s hand.

“Oh, well, that’s quite an impressive title.” Mr Broadbeam smiled. “Another Durinson? I worked with yer uncle for a time. But, uh, I should let yah go, y'u’ve got to pick up yer brother, yeah?”

“Oh…. Yeah.” Fíli said glancing down, sucking in his cheek. “Uh. Listen I just moved here, yeah? And I was wondering if you know any good bookshops…” Mr Broadbeam smiled.

“I was wonderin’ if yah’d ask. There is one down town I think yah’d find pleasin’. Coffee house too…” He said letting the sentence hang in the air before adding “I’ll be seeing yah?”

“Yeah… Okay” Fíli smiled opening his car door

“And lad, yah can call me Bofur.” The older man added and Fíli nodded, smiling all the way home.

*

He'd always hated hospitals and it wasn't because of the death in them, the sorrow and the pain. It was the smell. He's never been afraid of death, never thought of it as something to cower in the face of, always taught it was not the ending for a life, but the beginning of a new one. But the skin of the hospital made him cringe and swallow back bile. It was the smell of death, sweet and rotting, covering in vain by antiseptic and cleaner, the odor of the dead hiding malevolently under the stink of piss and soap. He hated it. And yet, for the last 8 years of his life, half his life, he'd been spending more and more time in hospitals. But there was nothing he could do, and hell maybe one day he'd be spending as much time in them as his mother.

This new hospital was any thing but. It was much older then the one back home, none of that new and shiny corporate bullshit, none of that movie veneer, none of that make-believe shiny plastic, this place was flashing florescences in the halls and gated industrial elevators, abandoned basements with claw marks. It reminded Fili of an asylum. Thorin had flicked him in the temple when he'd voiced that observation out loud in the elevator at it crept it's way up to the floor where their mother was.

"What if she's asleep?" Kili asked as they started down the maze of hospital hallways peering into every room they passed, Thorin drumming his fingers on his leg.

"What if?" He asked as as nurse passed them, harding looking up from her clip board.

"I mean, like, is it okay to wake her up? She's like sick and stuff. Or are we just gonna leave? Cause I don't wanna leave." Kili said skipping once, following his uncle and brother a ways behind, not as concerned as them with finding the room. "Like what's the right thing to do?" Kili kept talking as they searched the ward, jabbering on about sleeping hospital patients, his brother watching as Thorin's brow drew tighter and tighter with frustration, until Kili's voice rose to an other question.

"Why didn't Bilbo come with us?" He asked finally, the whole group suddenly stopping, with out warning, and Kili tripped over his own feet for a moment, Fili righting his brother before he fell.

"Because." Thorin said turning and heading into a room, apparently finally finding the one belonging to his sister. The room was not all plain white like in films and adverts, it had a wall painted a muted purple and one that was mint green and a window even, bedding dotted with little circles, a curtain printed with pastel colored squares. It was not white. The palest thing in the room was Fili's mother, white faced in her bed reading. Her hair was as dark as her brother's and her youngest's, her hairline so much farther back then it used to be, thinner too, but she was still beautiful, Fili thought, fiery and regal like all the Durinsons.

Her eyes flicked upwards as they entered, bright and youthful, skin crinkling like paper around her eyes. "Fili! Kili!" She smiled putting the book own. There was a moment while Kili tired to retain his excitement before failing and rushing to embrace her mother, hooked up to all her tubes and wires. Dis embraced her son happily as Fili and Thorin stood on the edges of the room waiting until she looked over and motioned for them, Fili rushing to her side with the excitement of his brother.

"You." she said with a smile as her pulled back. "I've heard some despairing things about you." She touched him lightly on the nose.

"Yeah." Fili said scrunching up his nose "I'm sorry." Dis shrugged.

"Don't be sorry, life's too short for that, just be better."

Fili smiled. "I'm trying." "Good." Dis said and patted the hospital bed indicating they should sit. "I'm so glad you all came to visit me. I was getting so bored."

"At least you don't have a roommate, y'know?" Fili said as Thorin dragged a chair over. "You can just throw ragers all the time."

"Oh yes, like you right?" His mother asked and Fili flushed looking at his hands.

"A roommate." Kili said "Like Bilbo!" He announced, Dis frowned and looked at her son. "Thorin's roommate! Bilbo! They share a room."

"Oh? Is that so?" Dis asked raising one of her eyebrows. Thorin cleared his throat.

"Yeah. Well... Kind of." He said, shooting Fili a glare as the teenager smirked and his uncle, fidgeting under his younger sister's gaze.

"He gardens and cooks!" Kili explained "And helps me with homework! And they do _it_ all the time!" Suddenly the news wasn't very funny to anyone anymore.

"Kili." Fili sighed "Stop talking." His brother turned to look at him, frowning.

"What? Why?" He asked and Fili stood patting his brother's shoulder, looking between the adults in the room.

"We'll leave you to it, yeah?" Fili said dragging his brother from the room and into the hall. Fili smiled tightly at a passing orderly.

"I don't get it." Kili announced looking up at his brother. Fili shrugged.

"Family shit man." He said, to which Kili protested that they were family and Fili had to grab his arm to stop him from going back into the room. "Grown up family shit. Fuck it, I wish you could still smoke in here." He muttered plopping himself down into a wheelchair. Kili kicked at the ground for a moment, glancing up to watch his brother play with his zippo before running over and flinging himself into Fili's lap. Fili grunted as his brother landed dropping the lighter as the wriggling twelve-year-old writhed about in his lap, accidentally punching him in the throat.

"Sorry!" Kili exclaimed and his brother glared at him reaching over and punching Kili in the thigh. It soon escalated and the boys were soon rowdily pull each other's hair and fighting in the hall until Thorin came out and found them tangled up with eachother in the wheelchair. He gave them a look. At the look both boys jumped up and began to follow him out.

"Are we leaving?" Kili asked and Thorin nodded "But. Can't we go say goodbye to mom?"

"No." Thorin said. "It's late, and she's tired. We should just home.

"Oh... Okay." Kili sighed and his hand closed around his brother's, for support. Fili tensed at the contact, but relaxed, it wasn't something Kili had done in a very long time, just a brotherly action, and it reminded Fili that they were family still.


	3. You Tell About The Saddest Book You Ever Read, It Always Makes You Cry.

**Chapter 3: You Tell About The Saddest Book You Ever Read, It Always Makes You Cry.**

 

"What are yah workin' on?"

Fili glanced up, shading his eyes from the sun that had managed to pierce its way down through the clouds. Bofur Broadbeam stood above him, with his upturned hatflaps. It was cold despite the bright sun. Fili was learning fast that it was always cold in Ered Luin.

"Math." Fili replied as Bofur leaned over his shoulder and pointed to one of the problems.

"That's wrong, that is." He proclaimed and Fili signed picking up his eraser, rubbing away the problem. "Need help?" Bofur asked taking the seat next to Fili.

"I need more then help." Fili lamented resting his chin in his hand. "I need a miracle." Bofur chuckled.

"Yah'll be fine." He said taking Fili's book. "Where are yer mates?" Fili shrugged.

"They're finishing a lab in AP Chemistry." Fili said. "Do _you_ understand any of this?" He asked waving his hand around the book and Bofur nodded moving closer to the boy.

"You know how to F.O.I.L?" Fili nodded "Well then. It's like this," Bofur said before launching into a new explanation of factoring, one that made much more sense then Smaug's or Balin's for that matter.

"Oh." Fili said. "Oh. Wow. I can't believe I didn't get this before." He grinned and looked up at Bofur. "Thanks." Fili bounced his pencil off the notebook as they lapsed into silence. They were sitting outside the cafeteria, at one of the round picnic tables. It was the kind made of metal chainlink and covered in rubber in the school's colors. There were other students sitting outside, but not many, a few at a far table, some sitting on the ground, more sitting on the cement wall. Most were indoors where they wouldn't get wet if it decided to rain, which, more often then not, it did. But Fili had felt suffocated inside the cafeteria with Herc and Jason's other friends, so he'd made up some excuse and crawled outside, not caring if his math book got a little wet. If he glanced over he could see his previous table through the tinted windows of the cafeteria. They seemed to not have noticed he'd gone.

"Laddie?"

Fili turned around to look at Bofur again. It seemed he'd asked Fili something.

"'m sorry." Fili muttered rubbing his eyes. "What did you say?"

"I asked if somthin' was wrong." Bofur told him. "Well, first I asked if you still wanted that address for the book store. Then I asked if ya was alright." Fili nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah I'd still like it." He said. Fili didn't answer the second question. He didn't want to talk about his mother or the fact that Kili had suddenly taken to getting rides from other people after school.

Bofur wrote the address down on the corner of Fili's notebook, with brief directions before smiling and standing, wondering away. Fili stood up and rushed over, after the teacher.

"Hey." He called out and Bofur turned. "I was wondering if you'd be my tudor. In math. Like the one I've got right now is great, but I'm not learning right now. And my uncle will pay you handsomely I promise that." Bofur smiled at Fili.

"I don't know if I've the time for it now." He said "I already have two jobs. But... Maybe we could meet once a week. How's that sound?"

"It sounds bloody brilliant." Fili said grinning with relief. "Like really. Thank Mahal. Thank _you._ " Bofur grinned and patted Fili's shoulder before departing again, before he stopped, standing just in the doorway of the arts building and looking back at the lion-haired youth bent studiously over his math work. Bofur lingered for a moment, just watching before turning away and walking into the building.

 

Fili was swollen with pride by the time he left his 7th period. He had answered all of Smaug's questions mostly correctly, and he was _proud_. Puff-out-your-chest, walk-in-like -the party-didn't-start-until-you-got-there, grin-like-a-fool-cause-you-answered-the-questions-right proud. And it might not have been completely called for. But he strutted to his car like a badass, and once again was one of the last cars to leave. It was probably because the kids from Alg II were some of the only seniors to have a 7th. Fili bayed farewell to his friends, before getting into his car and blasted his radio, headbanging as The Scandals filled up the car with their classic punk noise.   

“ _Hey darling, are you gonna be free tonight? Free tonight. Hey angel, are you gonna see me tonight? Me tonight. Cause I’ve been waiting all my life, and I ain’t wastin’ no more time. Hey baby, am I gonna see you at the show? At the show._ ” Fili nodded in time to the music, navigating his way though the convoluted parking lot, patting his jacket pockets for his cigarettes and, upon discovering they weren’t there, he turned around in his seat, digging though the pockets of his bag, until suddenly the car hit a curb and with a jolt, died.

“What?” Fili muttered sitting up and turning the key. Nothing. He turned the key again. Still nothing. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Fili cursed climbing out of the car and running around to throw open the hood. He surveyed the engine hastily, spotting the corroded cable connections on his battery. Fuck. He could clean a corroded cable easily. When the car was in his garage. And not his _mode of transport-fucking-tation_.

“Fuck.” Fili muttered again running a hand through his hair. With a sigh he pulled his phone out of his pocket, still assessing the situation at hand, before turning back to his phone, unlocking it and quickly dialing Thorin’s number. The line rang twice before emitting a shrill beeping. Fili pulled the phone away from his ear cursing himself as he watched it power down, battery dead.

“You’ve got to be….” Fili groaned kicking his tire hard enough to slam the hood of the Rambler, jumping at the noise the hood made. He cursed himself for being jumpy, and the car, and his phone, and, because he might as well, everything else too. Fili flopped down into his car, laying face down across the driver and passenger seats, his body bent over the center console, face buried in the seat that smelt like mildew and his mother’s perfume.

“Yah need a hand?” someone called out and Fili twisted around to look out the window. Bofur stood outside the car, smiling like always, a stack of papers in his arms. Fili extracted one of his arms from under him and rolled down the window.

“I need a life.” Fili informed the other man. Bofur chuckled.

“Come on, outta the car.” He said. “What you need is a good book and some coffee. I’ll drive you home afterwards.” And he turned, crossing over to his own car, leaving Fili twisted up and half dangling in the broken Rambler. Fili grunted and wriggled his way out of the pretzel configuration he was in, slamming the car doors with his foot and rushing to catch up with Bofur. Bofur was making his way toward an old white truck, rusting around the edges and a broken arm rest on the passenger side, a broken heater/AC, and a broken blinker. The truck was just big enough for Bofur and Fili, who dumped his school things in the back, and Fili though that if they had another person, he and said +1 would be likely sitting on top of each other for Bofur could shift. But no matter how small or rusty, the truck started up with a purr that made Fili jealous.

“Fili Durinson, meet Maxine.” Bofur said, lovingly stroking ‘Maxine’s dash. “Oh and be careful, there’s a bit a sharp plastic over there.” Fili looked down at the armrest on the door. Yes there was sharp plastic over here.

"Thanks so much, again." Fili smiled. "I mean. I would have been stuck here until I'd moped enough and decided to walk home, which could have been hours." Fili had thrown one or two or six temper tantrums in the past, and they had been known to last for longer then expected.

"And then ya'd be stuck walkin' home in the dark." Bofur said "There's all kinds of creepy crawly things in the dark."

"Yeah." Fili said with a snort. "Vampires and wargs right?"

"I was thinkin' more along the like of murderers and rapers and burglars."

"Oh." Fili said. "Well. Yeah. Those are bad too. Do you mind if I turn the radio on?" Fili asked and leaned forward. Bofur nodded. David Bowie filled the cab up and Bofur moved to change it.

"You can't change it." Fili announced. "You can't change _Bowie_." Bofur smiled at him and leaned back nodded, No, you can't change Bowie.

"How ya finding it, Ered Luin?" Bofur asked finally and Fili looked over, pushing his hair out of his face as the wind from the open window tangled it.

"It's okay." Fili shrugged. "People are nice here. The hospital is really nice. Like I mean it looks dingy and broken, but it's actually really nice, and I mean, it is one of the best cancer research place right? So. There's that."

"Why were you in the hospital?" Bofur asked, his brow furrowing with worry. Fili froze.

"Uh... Well. I-I wasn't in the hospital. Like I was. But not-not as a patient." Fili said looking down and picking at the fraying denim of his jeans. "I was there. Visiting." He nodded quickly and Bofur nodded slowly.

"It is a nice hospital." Bofur said finally, letting the subject rest, watching as Fili relaxed and patted his pockets for a fag. "Here." Bofur said handing Fili his box of cigarettes.

"Thanks." Fili said, taking one before examining the brand. He grimance. "Actually, on second though, I think I'm okay." Bofur laughed.

"Don't like Grand Prix?" He asked.

"Hell no," Fili replied with a smile. "They taste like burn bacon!"

"And what do you smoke, laddie?" Bofur asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Lucky Strikes of course," Fili told him and Bofur scoffed, turning the steering wheel, his blinker dinging. "What?" Fili asked still smiling.

"Nothing..." Bofur muttered as the street he was one turned into downtown Ered Luin, winding streets and store fronts, some of them painted bright, odd colors. Fili leaned out of the window, one hand on the door. He's never seen a town like this, gutters in the streets paved with stone, so much history and life left in the old girl yet, flats above store fronts, winding alleys and green lush parks, a giant sunk-in park over looked by a castle. This was a place of stories.

"Wow..." Fili muttered as Bofur parallel parked, "I didn't know this town had so much..."

"Life?" Bofur suggested shutting the car off. "I know. It's a little sleepy fishing village on the outside, but it's one of the best places I've ever lived. Come, out ya get lad." Bofur bustled Fili down the street, hanging on tightly to the lad's bag strap, making sure he didn't get lost in the action of the street, pulling him through the sea of faces, business women and college kids and people walking to and fore, coming and going. Bofur pulled him along, smiling to himself at the boy's wonderment. He didn't know where Fili and his brother had lived before, but it must not have been a much smaller city, probably one that wasn't built up on top of itself like Ered Luin.

The book store he tugged Fili toward was blue and on the corner of two streets, with big windows all around the store and gargoyles carved into the moulding on the outside. The shop's name was gilded in gold between two snarling faces, _Given's Books._ Bofur pulled Fili through the front door, the boy looking up and around at the buildings until his head disappeared into the shop. The shop was well lit from all the windows, the coffee shop in the front disappearing into a maze of book shelves. The shelves weren't metaphorically a maze, used to create the image of never ending rows of books, but actually very akin to a maze, some running horizontally other vertically, some bisecting others and turning into sharp angles leading to little nooks with chairs and other to walls of books and dead ends. The coffee house was all wood floors that creaked and groaned, but the book shelves sat on blood red Farsh carpets, that danced with all dim light.

"Mahal." Fili murmured as Bofur stepped up to the counter, Fili's hand now tightly clasped on the hem of Bofur's sweater.

"What can I get you?" The man behind the counter asked. He was a college student, probably, just a year older then Fili, with straight dark hair that fell down his back. "Oh, Mr Broadbeam. Didn't recognize you for a moment."

"That's quite alright, Lindir." Bofur smiled, pulling Fili up to the counter. "I'll have a coffee," There was an awkward moment before Fili realized it was his turn to speak and ordered himself a coffee as well. They talked for a good long while after they got their coffee, chatting on about books and Fili's little brother and about Erebor Mining and Imports and Bofur laughed at Fili's pride in his uncle's company and finally Fili asked Bofur about something he'd said the other day.

"Aye, I make toys." Bofur nodded, leaning back in his chair. "With my cousin. We own a shop together." Bofur grinned wider suddenly. "Y'know, I want to show ya somthin' actually. Come on." Bofur stood and Fili quickly followed after him. Bofur led the boy out of the shop and down a side street, pointing things out to Fili as they went and he smiled at the lad's awe. They didn't have to go far before Bofur turned and pushed his way into another store, painted yellow and inbetween two set of scaffolding set up to work on the upper half of the store fronts to either side.

The store was small and smelled like the most delicious baked goods and sawdust. Through a door on the left, Fili glimpsed the marking of a pastry shop, glass case and smells too good to come up from this earth. The shop Bofur had led him into was small, a room with a stair case that led to another floor, but filled to the gills with handmade toys of all fashions. There were wooden soldiers and wind up cars and dragons with wings that flapped and kites and puppets and stuffed things with button eyes and sawdust innards.

"This is." Fili looked around. "The shop. Your shop." He met Bofur's eyes and found the other man smiling at him.

"Aye." Bofur said. "That side is Bombur's. He bakes some of the most wonderful things. And back here," He gestured to a door in the back of the shop. "Is my workshop. Well it's Bifur's too. But. Well. Come along." Fili followed him through the double doors, into a dimly lit room carpeted with sawdust and shavings. A long high work bench occupied most of the room, covered with half finished toys and tools. The room was warm,  but not overly so, just cosy.

"Wow." Fili murmured walking up to the bench, his hand ghosting the wood shavings, fingers finally picking up on a wooden lion still immersed in a block of wood. "I tried to learn to widdle," He announced, examining the lion's mane. "But, I sort of just kept cutting myself, so I stopped. Kili’s really good at it." He laughed and looked up a Bofur, the older man watching him with his characteristic smile, eyes bright. In the shop's orange light Bofur looked younger, his face softer somehow all the years of worry washed away. Fili swallowed and smirked. He could smell Bofur from where they stood, wood and tobacco and something like the earth.

 

"Do you make all the toys?" Fili asked swallowing again as he moved to put the lion back, breaking eye contact. He could see Bofur shake his head.

"Nah." Bofur said. "We make the wooden ones, a some of the kites, but the others come from other toymakers." Fili nodded and turned to face Bofur once more, the sleeve of his sweatshirt catching on some kind of tool and pulling down a good bit of sawdust and a clamp in a horrendous clatter.

"Shit." Fili cursed kneeling down to salvage whatever he'd done. Bofur was there on the floor with him in an instant. "Sorry." Fili told him as they picked through the sawdust.

"It's quite alright lad," Bofur told him, still smiling. Fili rolled his eyes and reached out to push against Bofur's shoulder. Bofur laughed again and responded by blowing sawdust at Fili. Fili gasped through the wood shavings and stuck out his tongue in an incredibly childish manner, before picking up a handful of wood shavings himself and throwing them at the older man.

"This is going to escalate quickly," Bofur announced shaking wood shaving out of his hair. "I'm stopping this nonsense."

"Quite right." Fili nodded as they stood, his voice filled with mock seriousness that Bofur didn't miss. "Nonsense is for children. And now is the time to put away childish things, here in this toy shop."

"There is heavy machinery in this toyshop!" Bofur told him matching his tone. "Children could easily get hurt!"

"Oh yes. Defiantly." FIli nodded solemnly reaching behind Bofur to retrieve something. "Especially on this... This... Whatever this is." He said holding up one of Bofur's tools.

"That's a {tool name}! And yer right children could hurt themselves on it." Bofur told him taking the {tool} away from Fili. "Which is why I'm taking it away from yah." Fili's mouth dropped and Bofur smirked at him.

"I'm not a child." Fili proclaimed crossing his arms before spotting something else and rushing across the room to another table. Fili turned holding a kite gingerly in his hands. "Can we fly it? Please?" Bofur smiled.

"Well, when yah ask like that."

 

It was late when Fíli finally got home, the sun was setting behind a bank of clouds, sending little fingers of orange light out. They'd spent most of the day at the park, until the rain had grown too heavy to ignore and they’d retreated back to the Broadbeam brother’s shop where they’d noshed on some of Bombur’s wonderful pastries. Bofur hadn’t been lying when he’d said they were wonderful.

Fíli hadn’t wanted to admit that he had to go home, and hadn’t for longer then he should have, until Bofur finally played the adult card and forcibly removed the boy from the window seat, saying that it didn’t matter if he wasn’t finished with his coffee, he could take it with him. Sometimes Fíli forgot. He forgot that Bofur was twice his age plus a few years, forgot that Bofur was an adult, and more then that a teacher at his school.

Bofur dropped Fili off directly in front of the house, Maxine rumbling on the street.

“I had a lotta fun today.” Fili said smiling widely. “Like the most fun I’ve had in a good long time.” Bofur smiled and dipped his head in a very gentlemanly gesture.

“Well I’m glad I coulda helped then.” Bofur said leaning over to open Fili’s door for him. “but yah best be gettin’ home. I don’t want yer uncle to get after me for keepin’ yah out.”

Fili snorted. “Thorin can deal.” He jumped out of the truck and grabbed his bag from the back. “Thanks about Bofur, a lot.”

“Don’t mention it.” Bofur responded. “See you at school.”

“Yeah.” Fili nodded waving as Bofur started to drive off. With a sigh he started toward the house, head down, smiling stupidly at his damp boots and damper grass. It truly had been a great day, all because his stupid car had decided to fuck him too. He was still smiling when he reached the door, unlocking it and slipping inside, almost silently.

Inside was a madhouse of noise. Bilbo was in the front hall at the phone, desperately talking though it to someone, and Balin and Dwalin were present as well as Gandalf all three of whom were in the living room with Thorin who paced restlessly, wearing footprints into the warg skin rug, chain smoking. Dwalin was on his phone as well and Gandalf was smoking his pipe as though nothing was the matter, though it appeared something was very much the matter.

“Thorin you really must sit down.” Balin was saying when Fili entered the living room unnoticed by the preoccupied adults. His brow furrowed and he dropped his bag onto the floor loudly.

“Is everything okay?” He asked as Bilbo came hurrying into the room. Thorin turned dropping the cigarette he held and Fili flinched as Dwalin roared something incoherent but victorious sounding. Gandalf smiled and nodded once as if he’d proved something to everyone in the room and Bilbo swooped down to collect the dropped cigarette before it caught the house on fire.

“Fili!” Thorin said crossing to him and hugging his nephew tight. “Mahal we didn’t know where you were.”

“Uh… I was out. The car died and then my phone.” Fili said pushing himself away from his uncle. “Did something happen? Is Kili alright? I wasn’t suppose to pick him up was I? Shit. Is mom alright? I’m sorry.” Thorin smiled and patted Fili’s shoulder.

“Nothing’s happened.” He said. “You mother is fine. Kili’s fine. We just didn’t know where you were.”

“Scared your uncle half to death.” Bilbo smiled appearing at Thorin’s elbow. Fili looked around the room.

“Sorry…?” He offered “Uh… Yeah.” Thorin sigh and rubbed his face. Fili could see the exhaustion and the worry as the adrenalin slowly ebbed away.

“Never do that again, do you hear me?”

“Yeah okay.” Fili nodded. “I didn’t plan it or anything. It just happened.”

“Then don’t let it.” Thorin scolded and pushed past his nephew and out of the room. Fili’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t a child and he didn’t deserve to be treated like one. He turned from the room and grabbed his bag marching up the stairs and making as much noise as he could before slamming his door and throwing his book back into the wall, knocking down a shelf of vinyl albums which tumbled to the floor. Fili groaned and trudged over to pick up the fallen albums. He rubbed his eyes as he sits on the ground, crossing his legs before the mess in front of him. Fili knew these albums well, knew what they mean and what they don’t mean.

There was a knock at his door that startles him. He turned to see Kili standing in the doorway with a textbook.

“What’s up?” Fili said rubbing his face again.

“Uncle’s busy and all flustered and stuff.” Kili announced and Fili nodded.

“That would be my fault.” Fili said and motioned for his little brother to come inside. “What’s that?”

“My history book.”                                        

“Homework?”

Kili nodded.

“Need some help?”

Kili nodded again and Fili grinned standing and walking over to his desk, smashed up in the corner, between boxes and an indoor tree. Kili fell asleep at the desk that night and Fili slept on the floor after he tugged and tucked his brother into his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna thank anyone who's reading this, yeah? I just think you're super great and just. Awesome. You're awesome if you're reading this.
> 
> So I am hard at work at chapter 4, but you'll soon learn, I am crazy inconsistent and lazy about posting but please. Stay with me.


	4. I Know Every Single Face 'Round Here

**Chapter 4: I Know Every Single Face 'Round Here**

He was sore and tired and his body ached and he barely had any kind of voice left but he was here in a shitty gym at the Kíli’s middle school, squinting in to the brightness that was the blue mats and his brother’s teammates jumping around in blinding fencing suits under blinding lights. Fíli rubbed his forehead again and ducked into line to fill up his Styrofoam cup with coffee for the third time. Kíli was doing good, in the two matches he’d been in this far. Almost as good as his brother, the current (and incontestable) fencing champion at their old school back home. As he filled his tiny 8oz cup, Fíli leaned his head against the wall of the gym reminiscing on how fucking tiny eight ounces really was.

“Careful now or Thorin will think we like tied you up and got you shitfaced, when really all we did was take you to a metal show.” Someone said from behind Fíli. Fíli looked over and grinned at Herc and Jason leaning cockily against the doorway, in matching white fencing suits.

“You were the one the screamed your voice box out. It was all on you.” Herc nodded.

“Well look at you.” Fíli said peeling his forehead off the wall. “Like a pair of albino worms.” He clapped Jason on the shoulder and grinned wider “Y’know, you guys could give the Azog a run for his money. Especially you Jason, I mean with a face like yours you might be the next Defiler Under The Bed.” Fíli grinned wider and Jason landed a punch on his shoulder. Herc laughed and Jason turned to him.

“I wouldn’t be laughing, goose face.” Jason told him and Fíli laughed while he dumped four packets into sugar his little cup.

“Really though. I didn’t know you guys were on the fencing team.”

Herc and Jason shrugged, glancing at each other. They shrugged again and  before Fíli finally glanced up at his little brother’s name. Fíli rushed over to the front of the bleachers, the Men in White following him as Kíli walked out onto the mat, his hair pulled back into a pony tail bun a mask in one hand, a simple foil in the other. At their old school they had had foils and suits rigged up with digital sensors what went off when an opponent was struck. Here they just had foils and suits. Fíli watched his brother walk up, chewing slightly on the edge of his Styrofoam cup. Kíli looked nervous and strung out on a adrenaline, but he looked better then his brother. His opponent was just on the edge of this age limit and had obviously already hit his high school growth spurt, but Fíli noticed how sloppy his en garde was when they took their positions. Kíli on the other hand was perfect, knees right over his toes, left foot forward,  right foot back. The other kid (Fíli didn’t even bother to learn his name) was big, thick, with weak knees and no posture so to speak. Fíli leaned back and watched his brother score three hit easily. His lung was still sloppy.

Kíli made it into the semifinals.

Fíli stayed to watch Jason and Herc both make it to the semifinals for their age group, and then darted into the locker room to find his brother. Fíli searched through the maze of lockers, peering around them, over them, under them (as if his brother could hide there), until he spotted the too tall for his age 13 year old brother with metal head hair.

“HEY!” Fíli shouted jumping over one of the benches and half on to his brother’s back. “THERE’S MY LITTLE BROTHER!”

“Mahal, Fíli!” Kíli said pulling at his brother’s arms as Fíli put him in a headlock. “Geroffmeh!” Kíli’s friends laughed and smiled as Fíli wrestled his brother to the ground.

“What’s that little boy?” Fíli said smiling. “What did you say? Did you say you had the best big brother in the whole world? Is that what you said? I think that’s what you said. Hey, kid, that’s what he said right? You heard that right? Yeah that’s what I thought.” The rest of the boys were laughing and Kíli was laughing as well, elbowing gently at his brother until there was a knock on the metal lockers. Both brothers glanced up to see their uncle leaning against the lockers.

“Hey, Thorin.” Fíli grinned, the rest of the boys moving toward the lockers, away from the brothers on the ground.

“We’re leaving.” Thorin announced as Jason and Herc ran into the locker rom screaming and brandishing fencing foils. They busted through the doors and through the younger kids shouting incoherently as they pushed past Thorin and the other kids. Herc jumped up onto the bench in front of Fíli, holding a foil in each hand as Jason pushed Thorin out of the way to face his opponent. Both boys were still in their fencing uniforms.

“My name is Isildur, King of all the Dúnedain.” Herc proclaimed (in a terrible accent that Fíli could only have assumed was meant to be Gondorian) whacking Jason’s ear. “You killed my father,” He jumped to the other bench that ran parallel to the first, “Prepare to die!” He lunged out at Jason who parried the blow easily and proclaimed he would never be defeated. The previous crowd of kids regrouped and formed tightly around the pair.

“Oh yeah?” Herc said tossing a foil in Fíli’s direction. Fíli caught it swiftly. “You may be too much for one man to handle, but you stand no chance against Batman _and_ Robin!” This was apparently Fíli’s cue to jump up onto the benches as well.

The three of them put on an fantastic show, jumping and shuffling and Fíli out shone them all, of course, and by the time Thorin and Dwalin had broken through the wall of onlookers, Fíli had Jason and Herc up against a wall and had claimed all three foil, grinning so wide it sliced his face in half.

“Fíli.” Thorin said glaring at his nephew’s antics as Dwalin held and hand out for the foils. “I said we were going.”

“Sorry.” Fíli said jumping down, Herc and Jason swarming him immediately. “I had to help Herc kill Jason. But then it turned out Herc was actually the villain so I had to raise Jason from the dead and then we had to fight Herc and we killed him but then they turned on me cause they were zombies y’know? So naturally I had to show them what I was made of.”

“Naturally.” Herc repeater with a grin.

“Naturally.” Dwalin grumbled s he inspected the foils, grinning slyly as well.

“We’re going now.” Thorin said, turning to leave his hand coming down on Kíli’s shoulder.

“Actually.” Fíli said. “Is it cool if I go hang out with Herc and Jason? They want to take me down to the boardwalk. There’s some sort of greasy fried food they want to force me to eat.” Jason and Herc nodded enthusiastically, both proclaiming they would return Fíli in more of less the same state as he was in now. Sweat and pink cheeked.

“And George and Annie invited me to go to the arcade with them.” Kíli told his uncle. Thorin cleared his throat.

“Alright.” He said finally. “I’ll drive you to the arcade. Fíli, remember your curfew.” Fíli made a face at his uncle’s back as he turned to leave the locker room.

“I saw that.”

Fíli turned to see Dwalin standing behind him, all three foils in one massive hand, arms crossed over his broad chest. Jason and Herc had apparently gone off to change at the fencing master’s command.

“Oh whatever.” Fíli shrugged and smiled.

“We could use someone like you on the team.” Dwalin said and Fili shrugged again leaning over to fiddle with one of the handles on the lockers.

“Nah, you don’t want me.” He said. Dwalin snorted.

“I trained you meself. I know talent when it shows off in my locker room.” Dwalin said. “Or in Thorin’s kitchen for that matter.” They both smirked at the memory. Dwalin clapped a hand on Fíli’s shoulder. “You’re welcome to come to practice even if it’s just to show off. Or take your mind off things.” Fíli smiled.

“Thanks.”

Jason and Herc came in then and hustled Fíli off to their soft top that Fíli was beginning to suspect belonged to both of them equally. Like a child between too divorced parents.

They still had the walls off and the cold cut Fíli’s cheeks, but he relished the sting. Jason and Herc were “singing” along as the radio played something loud and incoherent. Fíli grinned to himself and tossed his feet up on the side bar across the window, stretching out across the backseat. He lit up a cigarette as he watched the town turn and twist and then the ocean was on one side of them and the wind cut at Fíli’s cheeks six times worse then it had. They parked in a big lot and pulled Fíli toward a street with restaurants and tourist attractions and little houses and a bay. It smelt like fish.

“Here.” Jason said handing something wrapped in yellow paper to Fíli. Herc was on the sand below the pier they stood on, beach combing barefoot. Fíli shivered and huddled deeper into his hoodie. The thin jacket did nothing and neither did his denim vest.

“What is it?” Fíli asked his elbows against the old wood of the railing on the pier. He took the fried thing hesitantly.

“Don’t worry.” Jason grinned. “You’ll like it.”

“And yet I have a hard time believing that.”

“Do you like bacon?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’ll like this.”

“Does it have bacon in it?” Fíli asked.

“No. But it’s nice to think it does.” Jason grinned again. Fíli rolled his eyes, but finally manned up enough to take a bite.

It was like an Italian influenced mutation of the KFC Double Down. And it was true. There was no bacon.

“What the _fuck_ is this?” Fíli said through a mouthful of ‘food’. Jason laughed.

“It’s a Deep Fried Lasagna Bun Meatball Burger.” He explained. Fíli could not decided it he should continue to chew to throw up on Jason’s Gondorian leather shoes.

“It’s disgusting.” He coughed and tried to keep chewing. There was an noise from the beach below them.

“You fucker!” Herc shouted up at them. “I wanted to be there to see his face.

“Well he’s still chewing,” Jason looked over at Fíli as he coughed up the mouthful of fried whatever. “Oops. I lied. Sorry man, you missed out. Too busy collecting shells for your mom!” Jason replied, shouting over the wind. Herc shot them both middle fingers, leaving his hat (an ugly floppy one) unprotected to the wind’s mischievous fingers. Herc’s hat was blown off by a strong gust, and sent Herc chasing after it, following it into the icy water. Jason and Fíli laughed as a giant swell of the icy water swept up and drenched Herc from head to foot.

They laughed as Herc started to make his way off the beach and back to them, until a car horn sounded and Fíli turned toward the street. Bofur’s old white truck was idling behind them. Bofur shot him a grin and Fíli headed over.

“Hey.” He said leaning against the window of the truck.

“Hey.” Bofur replied and glanced over at Jason and Herc, who had made it up to the pier, sopping wet and sans hat. “Hangin’ with the resident Heckle and Jeckle?”

“Heckle and Jeckle. Them? I think you’re thinkin’ of my brother and me.” Fíli grinned and winked. He’d just _winked_ at a teacher.

“So?”

“So what?”

“Are yah goin’ to make yer grand escape? I’ve got something I think yah’ll like.” Bofur winked back and Fíli glanced over at Jason and Herc. They were eating his Deep Fried Lasagna Bun Meatball Burger.

“Is it food?”

“Sure is”

“I’m in.” Fíli grinned and threw open the door and jumped in. He could hear the distant cries of ‘traitor’ and ‘apostate!’ and ‘what the fuck is an apostate?’ ‘it’s what Fíli is!’ ‘yeah!’ as they drove away.

Fíli smiled and shook his head. When he looked over, Bofur was smiling too.

“They made me eat some weird thing.” Fíli announced.

“Ah. Yes. The Lasagna Meatball Burger.” Bofur grinned wider. “It’s the new form of hazin’ with kids yer age I hear.”

“If I had known before…” Fíli grumbled, a smirk toying on his thin lips. “Is it of any use to ask where we’re going?”

“Nah. I’ve kidnapped yah for all intents and purposes.” Bofur told him reaching forward to grab his lighter.

“That’s what I thought.” Fíli mimicked Bofur’s movement and reached forward to turn the radio up. For once it was on one of the over played popular stations Fíli and his brother listened to when they were bored or on long car rides. The song that was playing was one Fíli know. Actually a remix he knew.

“ _Get outta the way… Or get fucked up_.” Fíli smiled, bobbing his head in time. He liked the original, but this remix was quiet good.

“Come on!” Fíli shouted over the radio that was far too loud. There was something bout Bofur that got under his skin and made him want to have as much fun as he could before he was hooked up to tubes and wires and monitors, being kept alive only by technology, denied his own will and want to die. Bofur reminded him of all the things his mother told him and all the things his mother didn’t. He wanted to walk the streets of Edoras in the rain (if it rained in Rohan. He didn’t actually know), he wanted to eat street foods in Khand (he’d had in once or twice before. At a restaurant back home), he wanted to lay in the sun on the beach of the Esgaroth (there was sun there right?), he wanted to dance under the stairs in Lórien (now he knew there were stars there). And he wanted to do all this with the shop teacher at his high school. Fíli took a deep breath. Smoke from Bofur’s cigarette, salt from the sea and the earthy smell that Fíli’d come to associate with Bofur.

“ _Get outta my way or get fucked up!_ ” Bofur batted his flailing hands away with a smile as Fili started to rave (quite poorly) in the passenger seat.

“ _Get outta the way!_ ” Fili shouted as they headed down a little winding street.

“ _Or get fucked up!_ ” They both shouted and broke into a fit of laughter as Fili continued to attempt to dance. Finally the song ended and Bofur truned the radio back down.

“Shit.” He murmured grinning. “I haven’t done that since _I_ was a kid. ‘a course we would tear out way down main street blastin’ old school punk we recorded on cassette tapes at the pub the night before. Ended up in the cop shop like that on more then one occasion.” Fíli grinned at Bofur’s memory.

“You sound like you were pretty badass.” Fíli said and Bofur shrugged, pulling over.

“Here we are.” He said. “My brother, yah know Bombur, well he got a pig at the butcher, like the hole thing, and he decided to roast the thing in our backyard.” As Bofur talked he exited the truck and led Fíli to the front door of a tall apartment building in between a deli and another flat. The door Bofur led him to was blue with a brass knocker and the remnants of the numbers that had long fallen away. Fíli supposed the Broadbeam brothers had lived here long enough that people didn’t need to know the address to know who were the residents of whatever address this was.

“And I use the term ‘backyard’ loosely here.” Bofur explained as he opened the door. “This bottom flat is Bombur’s.” Bofur explained, leading Fíli inside, into a toasty warm hallway. On the left side of the hall way was a set of stairs leading up to the second floor. The stairs were old and light blue. Bofur explained that he lived up there, and Bifur, his cousin, don’t worry you’ll meet him too, lived in the bedroom at the tip-top. Back here, behind the stairs, was Bombur’s flat, Bombur’s kitchen, Bombur’s sitting room, Bombur’s bedroom, and out here was the ‘backyard’. Bofur had indeed used the term ‘backyard’ loosely.

The Broadbeam’s backyard was little more then a stretch of grass the size of Fíli’s palm with an herb garden, a table and chairs and what must have been the pit they were roasting the pig in. Bombur was outside, making lemonade at the table, with fresh lemons and roses dressed in an apron with the image of a naked man in a kilt on it, the clack of his knife against the cutting board the only noise as they walked out. Across from Bombur sat an older man with a beard that looked like a skunk tail and a gruesome scar on his forehead.

“Oy.” Bofur called leading Fíli over to the table. “I brought more mouths to feed that pig ‘a yer’s to.” He clapped Bombur on the shoulder. “That is, if yah didn’t eat it all already.”

“Oh fuck off.” Bombur said making a face before turning to smile at Fíli. “Young Durinson! Good to see you again!” He exclaimed standing to waddle over to Fíli who tried to smile and avoid the hug he knew was coming, but he couldn’t and was soon being tightly squeezed by the youngest Broadbeam.

“That’s enough there Bombur,” Bofur said, always smiling, and pulled his brother off Fíli “Yah’ll squeeze the life right outta the boy. And then I’ll have ta explain it to his uncle. Actually, I’ll make yah explain it ta Thorin.” He nodded and pulled Fíli over to the other man as the back door opened again and other people entered.

“Bifur this is Fíli Durinson,” Bofur said putting his hands on his hips. “Fíli, this is my cousin Bifur.”

“Uh. How do you do?” Fíli said holding his hand out. Bifur looked at Fíli’s hand and then at Fíli’s face and then at Bofur and made a couple strange hand gestures and a couple strange noises and then shook Fíli’s hand. Bofur smiled approvingly and Bombur handed Fíli some sort of fancy drink with a rose in it.

“Rosewater lemonade.” He explained. “Don’t worry lad, there’s not _much_ vodka in it.”

____________

 

There was a tapping. Distant and faint but it was defiantly a tapping. Not really a tapping, Kíli decided the more he thought on it. Or at least not an insistent tapping. More like _tap…… tap………… tap……. tap……………… tap_. Like someone was throwing stones at his window. Like a leaky tap. Finally, after he’d decided it wasn’t a dream and it wasn’t going to stop, Kíli rolled over and glared at his window. There was left over rain drops from the storm earlier in the night and _Mahal_ it was like 12. Grunting Kíli clambered out of bed and wondered over to his window, throwing the thing open and glaring down at the intruder.

It was his brother. Swaying and stumbling and drunk.

“Dude.” Kíli said, just loud enough for Fíli to hopefully hear but not too loud to alert Thorin and Bilbo where ever they were in the house. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I…” Fíli slurred and wobbled a little squinting up at Kíli. “I’m drunk.”

“I can see that.” Kíli responded raising an eyebrow. “Where’ve you been. If you got drunk with Herc and Jason, uncle is going to have their skins. Yours too.” Fíli made a hand motion that might have looked nonchalant if he was sober.

“No not wi’hhem.” He said “Someone else. I was at this pig roast and there was this giant pig and I ate it’s cheeks and it was delicious. And then Herc picked me up, and took me to this crazy party and we went streaking, but then it was cold so we stoped and Jason was wearing a dress and I need you to lemmein.”

“Why?”

“I don wanna go through the main door. Thorin and Bilbo, y’know?” Fíli wobbled again. “Jus open the back door.” Kíli rolled his eyes.

“I’ll be right down. Try to stay standing. I don’t want to haul your ass up here. You probably smell like ass.” He told his brother and left the window. Kíli tiptoed his way down the hall and down the stairs and he thought he could hear Bilbo and Thorin in the sitting room but he wasn’t sure. Fíli was waiting for him outside under his window still, staring at the stars and swaying.

“Did you know those are our ancestors, Kíli?” He asked when Kíli got close. “All those little tiny dots. They’re our ancestors.”

“You know it’s past curfew right?”

“I wonder if Dad’s up there.”

Kíli looked up.

“Probably. Except I don’t think he counts as our ‘ancestor’.” Kíli said before tumbling onto the wet grass as his brother pulled him down. Fíli had a tight grip on his hand, as if he was afraid his brother would pull away and be gone forever. Kíli squeezed his hand.

“You remember Dad right?” Kíli asked and Fíli nodded. “What do you remember?” Fíli shrugged.

“Mostly I remember things about him. He was big and warm and I really liked to hug him cause he made me feel safe. And he just loved mom so much.” Fíli said “There’s one thing I remember.” Fíli blinked a few times and scrunched up his face. “I need to get inside.” He mumbled and rolled over to stand.

“Whoa,” Kíli said jumping up and reach out a steady hand to help his brother up and off the wet grass. Fíli stumbled as Kíli tried to help get him to his feet and he stumbled again when they started for the house but he managed to get inside without incident, but the stairs were a dozy that swam up at Fíli like a tide that rocked and rolled and he had to stop and lay on them for a few moments half way up because he was scared he would throw up all over them or fall down. But finally they made it to Fíli’s room without injury or getting caught.

“Get to bed kid.” Fíli said, patting Kíli’s shoulder. “And don’ drink a pitcher of vodka lemonade okay? Also don’ end up in the stairs with dad.” Kíli smiled and nodded pushing Fíli into the room.

“I’ll try.” Kíli told him. “Get to sleep old man, you have class tomorrow.”

“Fuck.” was the distant reply Kíli heard as he closed Fíli’s door and turned to go back to his room. As he crossed the hall Kíli noticed Bilbo standing at the end of it, watching them with a look. Kíli paused and shrugged guiltily and headed into his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this so short. I'm attempting to update weekly and I had to rush to finish this so i apologize for mistakes ect. I hope you loved it!
> 
> And if you didn't.  
> Eh.
> 
> Also if anyone is curious, I have like reference images for pretty much EVERYTHING in here so ask if you wanna see something! Also, I give you,
> 
>  
> 
> ****  
> [The Lasagna Bun Meatball Burger](http://consumerist.com/2013/05/30/this-burger-has-deep-fried-lasagna-slices-for-buns/)


	5. Still Can't Figure Out the Scene I'm In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhg, life's been hectic for me lately, sorry I haven't posted lately, school's started so that sucks (but not really cause I love school). In other news I just got finished with my first professional theater gig and it was awesome, and I got paid, whoop whoop! But I have to read Faulkner and I highly dislike Faulkner. Ew. Okay. Sorry.  
> Okay. Enough about me,
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 5: Still Can't Figure Out the Scene I'm In**

 

“You ready for this?” Fíli called digging his toes into the sand, tossing the cricket ball up before catching it again, his eyes flickered over to his little brother, waiting for his brother. The sand was still wet from the tide that had recently receded and it stuck between his toes in cold clumps.

“I’ve been ready for like fifteen minutes.” Kíli called back, rolling his eyes like any twelve year old. Fíli grinned and pushed a few stray strands of hair out of his face. They were on one of Ered Luin’s long, cold, windy beaches, which were usually miserable and only the extremely dedicated visited them, but the sun had decided to pop on out of the clouds for just a moment and Kíli had subsequently decided this needed to be celebrated, which seemed to be the general consensus around town. So they had packed up the car (with the cricket bat, the wetsuits, the surfboards and only one towel) and headed toward the closest beach. The car ride had almost erupted into a riot over the radio, which Thorin loudly declared was ‘driver’s property, do not touch it Kíli’ and Kíli had loudly declared that it was ‘unjust, unfair, prudish and unhonorable for Thorin to decide such a thing! How dare he discriminate against me just ‘cause I’m 12! This is outrageous! Bilbo you better change the station or so help me…’

“I really don’t think you’re ready for this.” Fíli said examining the ball in his hand.

“Fíli! Just bowl the damn thing already!” Kíli shouted back almost throwing down his bat. His brother obliged happily, sending the ball flying at Kíli who yelped and tried to get his bat up before the ball made contact with his body. He did not succeed and Fíli grinned with the knowledge his brother would have a nasty welt on his leg. He had quite a few of his own from earlier in the game.

“Foul.” Dwalin said, his gruff voice echoing out from the grass that topped the sand dunes he and Gandalf watched from. Thorin and Bilbo had made their way into town to find food, which had been forgotten when they had packed that morning. “That was a foul, Fíli.”

“He hit me like six times!” Fíli shouted listening to Kíli laugh. “That’s so far from fair!” Dwalin shrugged.

“I didn’t see those.” He explained with a shrug and Fíli sent the ball whizzing at him next, with no real force in the throw, just enough to upset Dwalin’s quite nice campout on the dunes. Dwalin threw the ball back with a shout and a grunt. The rest of the group laughed as Dwalin brushed sand off himself. He grumbled something along the lines of ‘ruddy kids’ before grunting again and pulling his hood over his head.

“I’m bored.” Kíli proclaimed. “Let’s surf.”

“It’s gonna be cold.” Fíli said. Kíli shrugged and tossed the bat at Fíli, who caught it easily as he marched up to the sand dune.

“Dwalin, come on.” Fíli called hiking up to the top. “Come surfin’ with us.” He looked out at the sea, slowly rolling and lapping at the sand. Fíli watched his brother zip up his wetsuit. Thorin had bought them the gear when Fíli was 10 and they had started taking surfing lessons from some 30- something guy with a shaved head who was permanently stoned, drunk, or tripping (sometimes all three).

“Nah.” Dwalin said brushing Fíli off. “Go ahead. The surf is far too cold for me. Where the hell did your uncle get to? I’m starving.”

“They’re probably bumbin’ uglies at the grocer’s.” Fíli told him taking a cigarette out of his pack. He offered one to Dwalin.

“ _Feeeeeeeeeli!_ Come ooooon!” Kíli said his shortboard under his arm.

“Go on!” Fíli said waving his brother off impatiently with the hand not occupied with his cigarette. “I’ll be there in a pip!” Kíli rolled his eyes and started into the water before yelping and jumping out.

“Fuck its _cold_!” He shouted accompanied by a chorus of Dwalin and Fíli’s laughter.

“I heard that.” Said a deep voice from behind them. They turned to watch Thorin and Bilbo, laden with groceries, make their way down the beach.

“Seventy five cents to the swear jar.” Bilbo chortled beginning to spread out a blanket. Fíli and Kíli had warmed up to Bilbo considerable after Fíli had showed up after curfew totally smashed and Bilbo had covered for him the next morning. “I found this in the back of the truck. Thought we could picnic on it.”

“Bet that’s not the only thing they’ll be doing on it.” Fíli whispered to Dwalin who laughed deeply as they headed down to the blanket. Bilbo asked them what they were laughing about and Fíli chuckled muttering something about damsels in the boots of cars. Kíli had wandered over, the top part of his wetsuit down so it hung around his waist, like his brother, a forlorn look on his face, one that matched the grey water he’d jumped out of.

“The sun’s out the water is like ice.” He said plopping down on the blanket, turning up one of the corners. “I hope you brought good food. I’m starving.”

“It’s not like you’re the one that was getting hit with cricket balls all day.” Fíli grunted pulling a handful of the grapes Bilbo had just unpacked closer to his mouth. “Look! Look at this!” He exclaimed pulling his sweatshirt up to reveal a dark bruise already blooming on his ribcage. “It looks like I’ve been in Fight Club.”

“He hit me too!” Kíli told Thorin and Thorin grinned.

“Equal treatment, right Kíli?” Thorin said.

“Ha.” Fíli said. Kíli flipped him off and Bilbo said something about the swear jar again. Kíli made a face at him when his back was turned.

Their lunch was cheese and pre-packed salami and apples that Bilbo and Thorin had found at the first food store they’d encountered, not a mile or more form the beach. Dwalin asked them what had taken so long if they’d found a store so fast. Thorin flushed and ate faster, looking down. Dwalin laughed.

“Who are you texting?” Kíli asked as Fíli’s phone went off again. Fíli shrugged, pulling his legs up to his chest before straightening them out again. He had forgotten how restricting a full body wetsuit was.

“A friend no doubt.” Gandalf murmured smirking as Thorin and Dwalin begun arguing about shipping taxes. “One of those nice boys you’re always with?”

“What?” Fíli said glancing up, his brow furrowed. “What. No. Not. We’re just friends.” Gandalf smirked and tried his best to look innocent. “I’m not texting them.” Fíli said finally upset that the old man had flustered him so.

“I bet it’s that girly, tall kid from that book store.” Kíli grinned and Gandalf chuckled.

“Oh yes, Linder.” Gandalf replied. “Quite a nice boy. Sweet. And very soft.”

“I’m not texting Figwit.” Fíli told him. “Leave me alone.” Kíli and Gandalf sniggered as Fíli twisted out of their reach.

He wasn’t texting Jason or Herc or anyone else.

He was texting his one day a week math tutor.

He was texting Bofur.

 

*

 

“Check this out.” Herc said beckoning Jason and Fíli over to the tank he stood in front of. He was leaning very close to a tiny circular window, his hands pressed on the wall around it. AP Biology had taken its annual field trip to the aquarium in the neighboring big city, an event that was looked forward to by (apparently) most of the students. Except when it was chaperoned but Smaug, like this year. Fili thought it was funny that both Herc and Jason were in AP Chemistry and Biology, when neither of them wanted to become scientists.

“It looks like Jason’s mom.” Herc giggled pointing to a small blue fish lazily swimming around the deep-sea tank. It had two sensitive looking eyes, and a bulbous transparent head revealing two green orbs. Jason rolled his eyes.

“Excellent eye Mr Chiron!” Their teacher twittered crossing over to them. Professor (he required them to call him as such) Radagast had his small glasses perched on the edge of his nose and his asymmetrical mustache twitched with excitement at all the animals around him.

“That my dear boy,” Radagast said leaning closer to the glass and pushing his glasses farther up his nose. “Is a barreleye fish, _Macropinna microstoma,_ it’s very rare. This is the only living one in captivity. Behold, class! Look at its eyes! The pivot like bird watching binoculars! It’s it stunning?!” His more engaged students, like Sebastian, were pressed up against the tank with their professor.

“Radagast,” a drawling voice called out. “I would remind you that the staff here does _not_ appreciate it when you fog up the glass.” Fíli glanced over his shoulder to see Smaug standing behind them all in his high collared coat, like a bird of prey, waiting to swoop down and pluck up his next victim. A hawk, or an eagle. Or a vampire.

“Oh. Oh right, sorry.” Radagast fluttered away from the glass and fixed his glasses again. “Oh! Oh! Over here class! Look at this!” and he hurried off in the other direction. Fíli followed along after the rest of his class, his head down, thumbs sweeping quickly over the screen of his phone. He smirked at the message he received. It was a photo of none other then Bombur standing in the surf (from the other day Fíli assumed), his great ginger beard blown back into his face by the wind.

_Damn. I think he might be more majestic then Thorin._

Fíli snickered to himself as he pushed his phone back into his pocket. He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced back to see Smaug towering over him, eyebrows arched in his expressionless face.

“Phones are prohibited during school hours.” He told Fíli, his voice quiet. “And that includes field trips. Even it they’re this dull…” Smaug glanced around the room, eyes glinting off the glass of the tanks. “Do you understand what this means?”

“You’re going to take my phone?” Fíli asked “And give me detention no doubt. Just write me up and get it over with.” He rolled his eyes and handed his phone over to Smaug who looked taken aback that Fíli hadn’t tried to put up some kind of fight about the phone. His disbelief was smothered and his face returned to his expressionless scowl.

“Keep your phone.” Smaug drawled. “And don’t let me see it out again, or I’ll sign you up to help Radagast clean the school’s alligator enclosure.” Fíli cocked an eyebrow in Smaug’s direction and took his phone.

“Yessir.” He murmured turning back to the tank. He could hear Jason and Herc snickering. Fíli smiled to himself. It seemed Smaug couldn’t take pleasure in torturing students if they refused to be tortured.

The class was ushered around the aquarium until lunch time, after which the class was allowed to wander about the aquarium at their leisure. Herc and Jason rushed off to the penguin exhibit immediately, with a paper cup of fish sticks and a later, telling Fíli they’d seen him in a bit. Fíli waved them off and stuffed his hands into his pockets heading into the other direction, as far away from Herc and Jason as he could get. Which turned out to be shadowing a couple of girls from his class. One of them was oogling the science that supported the aquarium’s table top wave simulator that simulated the potential energy that could be harvested from waves. The other was oogling a group of boys.

“Look at _this_ Darcy. This is stunning. Amazing. I mean the _science_.” Fíli had seen her in the AP Physics class on his first day of classes, because he’d turned down the wrong hallway and got lost.

“Oh my god, Jane. Science yeah. Great. Good. Look at those _butts_.” That girl was from Student Government. She had cornered Fíli when she’d discovered he was a Durinson and forced him to join. He had yet to attend a meeting.

Fíli smirked to himself, leaning over one of the touch screen monitors tapping on it until a diagram of whale popped up. It was then that there was a commotion toward the aquarium entrance before Fíli and the science-y girl’s phones emitted a shrill air raid alarm.

“What the hell is going on?” She asked as they both pulled out their phones, both alternatively showing red triangles with exclamation points on them. “Serve weather alert?”

“Increased rainfall. Flash flood warnings issued in Ered Luin.” Fíli read he glanced over that the girl. “That’s probably bad.”

“Seeing as we live in a coastal region, yeah.” She nodded grabbing her friend and heading toward the entrance where it seemed the commotion was Radagast was trying to corral the students and keep them calm. This was failing miserably as he was the only one panicking.

“If we could just keep calm. Oh goodness it really is bucketing out there isn’t it? Is everyone here? Oh where have those two trouble makers gotten off to?” He was fluttering around the assembled students, checking IDs with his roster, suddenly all protocol. Smaug just stood in the back, hands deep in his pockets, glowing.

“Where are Mr Grace and Mr Chiron?” Radagast asked. “Has—has anyone seen them? Mr Durinson? Have you seen them? Were they with you?” Fíli flinched. He was sure whatever they were doing was dangerous and illegal and he could get them thrown in jail if he outted them.

“Uh… Yeah…” He said “They… Uh. They said something about penguins…”

 

*

 

The entire town had turned into a water park. A very dangerous, debris filled, windy, cold water park. The streets were rivers, the coastline was flooded, the beaches were underwater, some areas of the coast were evacuated, and most of the town was at a temporary standstill. Life in Ered Luin was taking a hiatus. School was canceled, businesses and ports were closed, and it was strongly advised that residents stayed indoors to avoid accidents or injury.

As if being cooped up indoors with your family wouldn’t result in accidents of injury.

“And we have like no power, so Bilbo’s been making us play board games. Like Clue and Devil and Tailors. Oh! And last night we played Monopoly last night and Uncle got really drunk and then started to lose, so he flipped the board and stormed outta the room.” Fíli laughed at the memory as he retold it to his mother over the phone. Dís laughed in return and it sounded like crackling paper.

“Oh that does sound like my brother.” She said “You haven’t been evacuated yet then I take it?”

“Nah. I guess this is like a regular occurrence in this town.” Fíli said “So everyone here just like deals with it. It’s not like the _freakin’_ street’s has turned into part of the ocean or anything.”

“I don’t want you to drown, now you hear?” Dis said “Is your brother home?”

“Is that a joke? Of course he’s fucking here. We. Are _stuck_. In this _house_.” Fíli said before pulling the hall phone away from his ear. The weather had trashed their cell phone signals, but miraculously the landlines still worked “KILI! MOM’S ON THE PHONE. SHE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THAT RASH!”

“Fíli! Mahal, shut _up_ , I told you not to talk about that!” Was Kíli’s reply as he thundered up the stairs. “I hate you. I freakin’. Uhg.” Fíli grinned at his brother as he tore the phone receiver out of his hand.

“Mom! I don’t know what he said. I don’t have a rash.” Kíli protested loudly into the phone. “Fíli go away.” Fíli raised his hands in mock surrender and headed down the stairs, his hands in his pockets. Fíli could hear the sounds of Bilbo trying to find something to cook out of the limited ingredients they had left that drifted out of their pantry, banging and clanging dully. Going to the store was out of the question of course, and feeding this family of four had greatly depleted Bilbo’s stunning pantry. It looked like tonight’s meal was going to consist of water, canned corn, cheese, and tomato paste from what Fíli could tell.

The house was darker than usual, its great bay windows and skylights in most of the rooms had been blocked up by the clouds outside and the thrashing rain, and Fili had discovered his uncle actually had a remarkable lack of artificial lighting in most of the house, relaying on those windows for light during the day and dim track lights during the evening. The house was also colder than usual, most of the heat coming from a huge fire in the grate. Kíli and Bilbo had found vintage bed warmers in the attic, the kind you filled with hot coals and stuck under blankets, but Thorin had nixed that idea and they were all sleeping on the sitting room floor in front of the fire. It was kind of like camping. Only they didn’t have to shit in the woods. Aside from being cold and dark, the house was also quiet. Quieter than usual, even though they were all home all the time, but it was something about the raging storm that made them walk gently and talk in barely more than whispers. Fíli had even refrained from blasting music because it felt just generally wrong to do so. Like if you made too much noise the storm would find them and blow them off the map, like it would upset the quiet calm.

He found Thorin in the study, pouring over stacks of papers Fíli could only assume were records for Arkenstone Gem Imports. Papers were strewn all over the desk, in haphazard piles around a laptop. The desk was also decorated with a photograph of the entire family at Dís’s wedding, a small mountain of polished and unpolished river stones, a golden Lupe, and a lamp that cast gilt light over the papers and his uncle’s face, smoothing out the lines as he typed haltingly on the keyboard. Fíli dropped down in front of the desk, settling into the armchair on the other side with an exasperated sigh. Thorin didn’t glance up. They could hear the rain pattering away outside.

“I think we should get a dog.” Fíli announced. “Like a bull dog.” He leaned forward to pick up a strand of blue trade beads from Harad. They rolled through his hands softly, the fraying thread at the end brushing and tickling his finger pads. Thorin smirked.

“I think that would be a stellar plan,” He said, “A giant slobbery bull dog running around drooling all over Bilbo’s West Farthing China.” Fíli grinned too and Thorin glanced up at him, over the top of his reading glasses. “Come here.”

Fíli stood and crossed behind Thorin, looking at one of the papers Thorin held out to him. It was a long list of names and amounts and other things. Fíli glanced at the laptop.

“Gem imports?” He asked and Thorin nodded, pointing to the screen.

“That’s the seller. That’s the kind of gem. Price, wholesale and retail. Buyers. That would be where the gems are from and a date. Mind some of those dates are quite approximant. And a number that matches to a box or a strand.” Thorin said pulling out a strand from an open drawer in the desk. “These here are pearls from the Grey Havens, see, we bought them from… okay I don’t know where we bought them from, but they’re worth sixty-five crowns a strand.”

“Damn,” Fíli murmured. His whole life had been surrounded by strands of strung and unstrung jewels and beads, encrusted, like the shell of a crab, with stones and metal from places he couldn’t name and he had never really understood what any of that meant, where it all came from. And now he was going to inherit it all.

“Show me. I want to understand,” Fíli said thrusting a stack of papers at his uncle. Thorin smiled and nodded, watching as Fíli drug the arm chair around the desk, winkling the rug and scratching the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got through an other chapter whew. I totally couldn't hello but make Kili some kind of activist which I think is hilarious. Sorry it's so short again! But just remember we are getting very very close to the sex.... Soon my pretties. Soon.


	6. Remember When You Used To Be A Rascal?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There Be Sex A'waitin'

**Chapter 6: Remember When You Used To Be A Rascal?**

 

_It’s Christmas. Or at least that’s what it feels like. It’s cold and everyone is around and his mama is busy in the kitchen because she’s the best cook ever in his mind and his daddy is there, in the drawing room, grinning and his uncles too, both of them, and his brand new baby brother. The house smells like roasting meat and nutmeg and cookies and there’s a Christmas tree that’s ten thousand feet tall in the drawing room next to the fireplace and his daddy’s armchair with a mound of presents around the bottom all wrapped in shinny paper. He thinks the paper is so fantastic._

_There’s a big roaring fire in the fireplace and his daddy just sticks his hand in there to move the logs around._

_Don’t do that, his mama chides, you’ll set a bad example for your son._

_He looks up at them with giant grey eyes and his daddy smiles down at him._

_Ah, bad example. His daddy laughs and picks him up, setting him down on his knee. Never. He likes his daddy, he’s always laughing._

_His uncles come in from outside, and let in a breath of freezing air and a flurry of snowflakes. Both of them look just like his mama, dark and grinning, they look just like his little brother too. They’re laughing and Uncle Thorin has a turkey in his arms. They tell his mama something and she rolls her eyes and laughs. Uncle Thorin takes the turkey into kitchen and his other uncle, Frerin, crosses to him and picks him up, swinging him around in the air. He laughs. He’s never been so content and purely happy._

_It’s later that night, after dinner, his daddy and uncle sit and smoke pipes around the fire, telling stories, while he sits with his Uncle Thorin and his mama sits with baby brother that’s just a bundle of blankets. He can’t really remember that they say, but everyone is smiling and then they’re laughing and his mama and daddy are dancing while his brother watches from Uncle Frerin’s arms and finally he falls asleep on Uncle Thorin’s chest because he doesn’t want to go to bed because Thorin is never around and he’s his favorite uncle._

_He wakes up in the morning and it’s cold but downstairs his mama has hot coco and he and Uncle Thorin have some for breakfast._

*

It was a nice evening, clear and a tad chilly, just enough to warrant Bofur’s green sweater and a nice cup of tea. The town had mostly dried up, or at least it had dried up enough for the town to get back to business. But, even if the ocean had receded and the coast was inhabitable again, even if the streets had stopped running and people could travel from A to B without specialized water travel equipment, and even if the sun had come out from behind the clouds, Ered Luin was still cold and dark at night.

The older man had just made a call for take-away, and was content with watching reruns and grading designs his shop class had come up with for their next big project, when there was a knock at the door of his flat. Bofur was completely puzzled at the knock and discovered upon opening the door, his downstairs brother whose girth hid his true guest from him at first.

“Before yah ask, no I did not order any Kung-Pow chicken.” Bofur told Bombur, figuring his brother had wandered up the stairs to ask if he could steal his brother’s dinner.

“He just showed up.” Bombur remarked, ignoring Bofur’s statement about the chicken. Suddenly Bofur was embraced by a sobbing, wet mess of limps and golden hair.

“Oh.” Bofur said patting the teenager gently on the back. “Fíli it’s alright. Hush now lad.” When Bombur made no move to leave and stood with an arched eyebrow, Bofur said “Thank you, brother, I’ll take it from here. Also, do not eat my take-away.” And he pulled Fíli off the landing, into this little flat, closing the door behind them. Fíli clung to Bofur like he might drowned if he let go, the survivor of a ship wreck.

“Alright now.” Bofur said as Fíli started to get control of his breathing. “Hush lad. Yer alright now.” They stood for a few moments in Bofur’s living room, until Fíli’s sobs subsided and he pulled away from the older man, head bent, hands coming up to wipe away his tears.

“Are yah okay?” Bofur asked reaching out to touch the other’s face. Fíli shrugged, a gentle roll of his shoulder, his eyes meeting Bofur’s. Fíli’s grey eyes were filled with tears, innocent and scared, searching for reassurance in Bofur’s face. Bofur kissed Fíli’s forehead gently, draping the green sweater over his shoulder and telling him to sit and wait while Bofur made him some tea, because tea was the remedy to all. Fíli nodded slowly and pulled the sweater around him moving to sit on the sofa. He sat much like a child, or a bird, perching, in case he had to run.

Bofur left to make tea in the adjourning kitchen, glancing over to look at Fíli every once in a while. The boy looked terrible, Bofur mused as he pulled down a coffee mug and flipped the switch on his electric kettle. He looked stressed and strung out, like he hadn’t been getting much sleep, and there was a dark shadow on his jaw that looked like a small bruise.

“Lad?” Bofur called, putting a tea bag and a scoop of sugar into Fíli’s cup, before filling it halfway with boiling water. “How’d you get here?” He pulled a bottle of whiskey down from top of the refrigerator.

“I drove.” Fíli murmured, his voice was rusty and stiff. Bofur poured a good bit of the whisky into Fíli’s mug. The mug was hand thrown pottery, made by one of his neighbors. Bofur crossed to his throw pillow covered sofa and handed Fíli the mug of tea, the boy’s hands wrapping tightly around the sides. He sniffled as Bofur sat next to him.

“Fíli,” Bofur said finally, after a moment or two of silence. “Are yah goin’ to tell me what happened?” Fíli’s swollen eyes shifted from the mug in his hands to the door to Bofur’s face, open and pleading and worried, but he didn’t say anything.

“How’d yah get that bruise?” It was defiantly a bruise.

“Kíli.” Fíli said. “He hit me. I… I hit him first. Clocked him right in the eye. Who does that?! Who punches their little brother in the face?!” It was as if when he opened his mouth the hysterics and the anger poured out, rushing like waves and breaking upon the shore. “I did it! I hit him! He’s twelve. Fucking twelve, and I _hit_ him.” Silently, Bofur tried to find the right words, tried to pull himself out of his shock.

“What… What happened?” He asked lamely, and Fíli’s eyes welled up with tears again. Bofur finally understood, they were tears of anger at himself.

“My mom needs a bone marrow transplant.” He whispered. “And I’m the only match. And… I just… We got into a fight and I just wanted him to _shut up_ so… so I hit him. He hit me back, and we were on the ground and Thorin pulled us apart.” Fíli shut his eyes tightly and leaned back against Bofur. “He wouldn’t even entertain my side of the story. He just told me I was… I was…” Fíli struggled with the words, as if saying them again would make them true. Bofur squeezed his arm.

“So yah came here.” He finished and Fíli nodded, tears running into his hair. “It’s alright laddie.” He hugged Fíli tightly and they sat together for a while, until Bofur helped Fíli off the sofa and sent him to shower and wash all the bad things off. Fíli abided, taking his tea with him, as he wandered through the kitchen and Bofur watched him disappear into the bathroom, before responding to an another knock at the door which revealed his brother again, his take-away and plenty of curious looks from both his relatives. Bofur ignored them and retreated into the kitchen, dumping his take-away on the table before bustling around the cramped kitchen to retrieve plates and flatware for them.

As Bofur worked to organize his casual night into comforting a teenager, he glanced up, catching the glow from the bathroom light in the corner of his eye. Fíli had left the door open a good six inches or so, letting steam and yellow light out into the hall. Fíli could be seen, standing at the mirror, washing his face, in tight grey boxer briefs. Fíli examined the bruise on his jaw before rubbing his face once more and hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his briefs, pulling them down over his arse to his ankles. Bofur raised his eyebrows and looked down quickly, swallowing thickly. Despite himself he glanced up and watched Fíli’s arse disappear behind the door. Bofur leaned against the counter behind him and left out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

What was he doing? He had a teenager in his flat, a _naked_ teenager in his flat. A naked teenager that was a student at his workplace. A _student_. Of course not one of _his_ students, except for Mondays and every other Thursday, but still a student none the less. This was so wrong in basically everyone’s book.

“It’s only wrong if yah want to push him against the wall and shag his brains out.” Bofur told himself with a smirk, bringing his hands up to rub his face. “And what if yah do?” He laughed once, harshly, with a sigh and went to gather his student’s papers. Bofur sat with a stack of designs, drawn on various materials, drafting paper, notebook paper, a bar napkin, something that looked and felt like vellum, and his red pencil at the dining room table, sucking on the end of the pencil as he made notes alongside the edges of the papers. He had never been a teacher who graded students down for ‘bad designs’ but did, on occasion, offer helpful remarks on the execution of the design. Bofur felt that if his students thought they could design it and build it, then he shouldn’t get in the way. Even if he was the expert.

“I need pajamas.” Someone announced from the hallway, and Bofur glanced up. Fíli stood before him, wet and flushed. He had a towel wrapped around himself, mostly around his chest, ending just a few inches below his arse cheeks, brushing his thighs like a school girl’s skirt. Fíli’s arms were strong looking and gold, as gold as one could get in this part of the world, and there was a fading black squiggle on his upper left bicep.

“Er… What?” Bofur said pulling his eyes up to Fíli’s face.

“Pajamas.” Fíli repeated, seemingly aware and unaware of the other’s wandering gaze. “I didn’t bring any with me. So I need to barrow some.” Bofur nodded, knowing that this was a very subtle plead to let Fíli stay the night, and lead Fíli into the bedroom at the end of the hall. Fíli had been over to Bofur’s flat before, during some of the days Bofur tutored him, and he knew where everything was fairly well, but the bedroom had been strictly off limits, if on no other grounds then good manners. Fíli had always been curious about the room, and had peeked in once or twice on his way to piss, but he’d never gone in there.

It was a big(ish) room, with the traditional bedroom furniture, a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, painted a bright green. Not a sickly green, a lush, fertile green. Bofur also had a desk and an ancient laptop computer pushed against one wall, next to a rubbish bin over flowing with crumpled slips of paper. Bofur led Fíli to the dresser, and started pulling the drawers open until he came upon a folded pair of sweats and a tank top for Fíli.

“Uh. Here” Bofur nodded, handing the cloths over, muttering about leaving Fíli alone to change. “There’s food on the table, if yer hungry.” Fíli nodded dropping his towel just as Bofur turned away. Bofur cleared his throat and left the room quickly, adjusting his suddenly tight shirt neck. Jesus that boy was going to give him a brain hemorrhage. Or a pelvic hemorrhage.

They ate dinner in mostly silence, Fíli was still shell shocked it seemed, and he ate his portion of the take-away staring at the table while Bofur talked, told him about his day, about his brother and his cousin, once in a while earning a small smirk in regard to his family’s antics until finally Fíli yawned too wide.

“Come on, laddie.” Bofur said standing, both plates in his hands.

“What?” Fíli said looking up at Bofur, pulling the sweater over his hands. “I’m not. I don’t need to sleep right now. I’m. I’m fine.” Bofur snorted and dumped the plates in the sink, crossing to Fíli’s chair and pulling him from the table.

“Bullshit.” He said. “You need to sleep laddie. You’ve had a rough day.” Fíli tried to protest for a moment again but yawned once more and surrendered, letting Bofur pull him to the bedroom. Bofur sat Fíli on the bed, which groaned a bit, and Fíli rolled onto the bed yawned again, and rubbed his face. Bofur pulled the quilts up around him and headed out of the room again.

“Are you gonna come to bed?” Fíli’s voice called out and Bofur turned to see him peeking out at him from the quilts. Bofur grinned.

“I’ll be right back laddie.” He said “Just gotta go turn the lights out.” And he did just that, turning the lights out around his flat, glancing at the pile of work he still needed to grade, but returned to the bedroom quickly, turning out the hall light as he did so. Fíli was asleep already, or looked to be, in the bed, his hair tangled around his head, mouth open slightly. Bofur smiled and put his own pajamas on before crossing to the bed, past the dresser with all its photos on the top of it.

When he climbed on to the bed it groaned as well and Fíli stirred, his fingers curling into the bedding. Bofur smiled once more at him, leaning down to press his lips to the soft skin of Fíli’s temple. Fíli grunted and rolled over, his eyes groggy but seemingly awake.

“Do that again.” Fíli said tugging on the end of one of Bofur’s braids. “Kiss me again.” Bofur didn’t even think about out, and leaned forward, pressing his lips to Fíli’s. In that moment, that short and incredibly long moment, they forgot all the things in their heads, like the tops of their skulls had tipped off and all their thoughts had spilled out. Pain and loss and anger and fear and guilt and it was all gone for that moment. There was no student, and there was no teacher, there were no ages and there were no responsibilities, there was no past and there was no future, there was only them and right now. Bofur caressed the boy’s hair, still damp from his shower, Fíli’s fingers light on his chest, his breath hot against Bofur’s neck. Bofur tugged on Fíli’s tresses, the braids rolling through his hands, pulling the boy over, on top of him, pressing lips to lips, kissing him deeply. Fíli moaned into the kiss, quick young hands fluttering all over Bofur’s body, pushing up his shirt, pulling experimentally on his sweat pants.

“Is that what yah want?” Bofur asked palming Fíli though the lad’s own sweats, watching the boy’s face contort with longing. Fíli nodded quickly, eye darting away from Bofur’s as he thrust into the elder’s hand, guilty of the heat in his groin. Bofur kissed him, pulling his hands up to touch Fíli’s neck, Fíli’s chest, his thumbs caressing his collarbones, pushing his shirt up. Bofur's hands traveled down to Fíli’s hips kissing his neck gently, as Bofur pulling his sweats down to the knees before extracting one leg from them, spreading them for Fíli. Fíli pushed his own pants down to his mid-thigh, releasing his hard on, which stood tall and proud against his hard stomach. Bofur smiled again, pulling the boy back to him with rough hands, their lengths touching, hot flesh against hot flesh. Fíli bent low over Bofur, his arms shaking as he supported himself, hips slowly beginning to move, rubbing himself against the elder. Slowly Fíli’s hips became more frantic, his head bent low, blond hair tumbling forward, grunting slowly as he jerked himself off with Bofur’s body, the older man pushing a hand up the back of Fíli’s tank top, the other reaching between them, grasping both of them. Fíli moaned deeply as Bofur pushed his hips up to meet the other’s watching with a smile as the lad’s shoulder shook with pleasure.

“Kiss me.” Bofur said and Fíli’s mouth was eager on his, kissing him with all the passion and enthusiasm of a teenager until Fíli finished, a strangled cry leaving his throat, his muscles contracting, spilling his seed across their stomachs. Fíli trembled above Bofur, sweat marking his forehead, as he sat back on his legs eyes trailing up Bofur's chest, finally meeting the man's smiling face. Bofur grinned at Fíli and pushed his mane of golden hair back, sitting forward to kiss Fíli again before they both fell back into bed.

*

Fíli woke up alone the next morning, groggy and stiff, but he felt strangely good. The door was ajar, and he could hear noises from the kitchen filtering in. smiling, Fili stretched out in the bed, in Bofur’s bed, and climbed out, to head toward the food. On his way out, he was distracted by the photographs he hadn’t noticed the night before. Decorating the top of the dresser were frames of various sizes, house family photos. There was an old black and white one of a couple on their wedding day that Fili assumed was Bofur’s parents, and then one of them all at Christmas, Bofur himself grinning gap toothed at the camera from behind a pile of shiny wrapping paper. There was a photo of Bombur in a graduation cap and gown, and one of Bifur in army greens. There was a photo from Bofur’s youth, in black and white as well. Bofur was in the foreground, grinning, with a cigarette in one hand and a can of spray paint in the other. He had a terrible haircut, something with shaved sides and greasy braids, and combat boots and a homemade shirt that read, “Let’s Kill the President”. The leather jacket he was wearing looked quite familiar to Fíli.

But that wasn’t the only photo of Bofur. There was also another photo of him on the beach, one a sunny day, kissing the cheek of a woman. They were laughing, and older than the other photo of him, and the woman had a ring on her left hand. And so did Bofur. Fíli picked the frame up. It was a Polaroid, and it looked like someone else had framed it for Bofur.

“Fíli?”

Fíli glanced up to see Bofur at the door, holding a towel in both hands, winging it slightly, like one might when they’re nervous.

“Morning.” Fíli said and held the photo out. “Who is she?” Bofur took the photograph.

“I should ask yah the same.” He said and gestured to the dark squiggle on Fíli’s upper arm. It was a rickety heart and a bent arrow, with the word FREYA spelled shakily across it.

“She…” Fíli rubbed his arm. “We thought we loved each other. He brother had a tattoo gun made out of a cassette tape motor and a guitar string and we thought it would be a good idea to get tattoos of each other’s names. We broke up a week after that. Differing sexual preference.” He grinned to himself. “She’s my best friend. I haven’t talked to her since we moved.” He looked and Bofur and the older man smiled too before setting the photo down and motioning for Fíli to sit.

“She.” Bofur said, pulling down a photo album before sitting with Fíli on the bed. “She was my wife.” He opened the book to a page of wedding photos, and photos of them together, holidays and other occasions, a few candid things of both or one of them. “She died.” Bofur explained, pulling one photo, of her heavily pregnant and grinning, out of its sleeve. “Her and our son died while she was giving birth. 10 years ago.” He handed the photo to Fíli.

“Oh. I’m… I’m so sorry.” Fíli murmured running his hand over the photo. “I… Don’t…”

“It’s alright lad.” Bofur said. “I miss her every day, but if I was to tell you the truth, I couldn’t remember the little things about her if I tried. I can barely remember her face. Come on now.” Bofur said, standing up after a moment. “I’ve made breakfast. Let’s eat.”

Fíli followed after Bofur, leaving the photos on the bed, and tried to feel guilty and he couldn’t no matter what. He felt as if something was laying a hand on his shoulder and telling him it was going to be okay and he had the inkling the thing was Bofur’s dead wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for me to update! Feckin school man.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this, I enjoyed writing it! Also sex. I hope you enjoyed the sex!
> 
> Also in case you were curious, here's the
> 
> [ ](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/photogalleries/fish-transparent-head-barreleye-picture/)**[**Barrel eyed fish** ](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/photogalleries/fish-transparent-head-barreleye-picture/)   
>  **
> 
> from the last chapter and I posted some new
> 
> [ **referance** ](http://s974.photobucket.com/user/glitterbaby13/library/Home%20Referance?sort=4&page=1)
> 
> , so check that shit out!


	7. You'll Never Get the Paw Prints Outta The Hen House Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got some pretty strong responses to this chapter, so I went back and changed a few of the things in it, to make it a little different, and maybe I captured the correct feelings and maybe I didn't and Bofur's a good guy I promise, just maybe not a _morally_ good guy, but he's still a good guy. And I mean, I think Thorin's more then just relieves that Fili's come back, so that is why I didn't write him furious and shout-y. So uh. Have at.

**Chapter 7: You’ll never get the Paw Prints Outta the Hen House Now**

 

“When are yah plannin’ on goin’ home?”

Fíli glanced up from his current position in one of Bofur’s arm chairs, sprawled out across it, mostly naked, eating cheese popcorn Bombur had made, with a highlighter tucked behind each ear and one colored pen stuck through one of his gauges, attempting to do his English homework. Fíli looked down at the photocopied short story and popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

“I dunno.” He answered. “It’s only been like. Three days.”

“It’s been more like seven.” Bofur told him, crossing to sit in the other arm chair across from Fíli. The TV was on, playing a docu-drama about Middle Earth’s ancient history, but the sound was turned almost all the way down. “It’s not that I don’t like yah layin’ around naked on all my furniture, I like it every much in fact,” Fili glanced over the top of his assignment and grinned wickedly at Bofur, Bofur grinned back and continued, “It’s that yer not attendin’ classes and or speaking to yer family.”

“I’m getting my school work done.” Fíli put in, staring intently at his homework. “All my absences are excused.”

“Fíli, you can only tell them your grandparents died so many times.” Bofur said. Fíli shrugged.

“Maybe I have a lot of grandparents.” Fíli muttered. Bofur rolled his eyes and reached out to fold the top of the photocopy down so he could see Fíli’s eyes.

“You need to go home.” He said and Fíli knew he was right.

“I guess I should pack my things then.” Fíli said kicking his legs off the chair. As he headed toward the kitchen, Bofur reached out and hooked a couple fingers through the waistband of Fíli’s briefs. Fíli looked down, eyebrows raised, at Bofur’s grin.

“I didn’t say yah had to do it _right now_.” Bofur told him, pulling Fíli down into his lap. “I was thinkin’ later.” Fíli raised his eyebrow and tugged at Bofur’s braids.

“Later.” He said as Bofur pressed an open mouth kiss to the middle of his chest. “As is after you’ve had your way with me some more?” Bofur scoffed, one of his hands kneading the soft flesh of Fíli’s rump.

“Now yer makin’ me sound like a dirty old man.” Bofur told him as Fíli shifted his hips against Bofur’s.

“You _are_ a dirty old man.” Fíli whispered, leaning down and trailing his teeth against Bofur’s ear. Bofur laughed deeply and slid one of his hands down the back of Fíli’s briefs.

“Then what does that make you?”

 

*

 

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

Kíli shrugged and looked down at the sketch pad propped up on his knees. His fingers were black from the hunk of charcoal in his hand. He’d been sketching the view of the cliffs and the ocean from the restaurant his friend worked at, that is until he’d been interrupted by his brother’s weird friends.

“I don’t know where he is.” Kíli repeated and winced at the memory of his black eye. Bilbo has bought him concealer to cover it up with, and the reason he got it hurt worse than the bruise. “He just left the other night.”

“He’s been gone for like a week.” The one named Jason said “Haven’t you guys looked for him?” Kíli shrugged again. He wanted to be angry and mad and betrayed about his brother, but he was starting to lean towards worry and loneliness.

“What happened?” Jason asked. Herc had been stoically silent thus far. Kíli just shrugged again and rubbed his face. His fingers left it streaked with black.

“I gotta go.” Kíli said gathering up his supplies and standing, graphite pencils spilling out of his tin. Kíli cursed and bent over to grab them up, brushing off Jason’s offer to help. “I don’t know where Fíli is.” He said one last time as he headed off into the restaurant to wash his hands before Bilbo came to get him. In the bathroom he scrubbed the charcoal off his skin and prodded the shadow under his eye. He was angry, he was pissed that his brother would have done something like that. But he was scared too. Fíli never would have done that before. He never would have even thought that that was an option. But here they were, bruised and estranged. Kíli ran his hands under the running faucet once more, watching the water sputter and gurgle down the drain.

His phone rang and he headed out to meet Bilbo on the curb. Bilbo dropped him off at fencing practice and told him to call Thorin when it ended.

 

*

 

“Okay boys, take five.” Dwalin clapped loudly, echoing around the empty gym, as the fencing team nodded and wiped sweat off their foreheads. He’d been having them run drills all day, under the pretense that they were going to have a really special surprise for the second half of practice. So far they’d just sweated.

“Remember boys,” Dwalin was still shouting as Kíli made his way out into the hall to get water. “Stay inside the gym. I don’t want anyone wondering around outside, yah hear?” Kíli rolled his eyes as he pushed in the lever with a groan and cold water hit his lips.

“Yo, dude.”

Kíli glanced up to see a couple of his teammates standing at his elbow.

“Where’d you get that black eye?” They asked and Kíli stood up, wiping his mouth.

“I fought a warg,” He told them with a tight grin. They all exchanged nervous glances before nodding their heads in the direction of the door. “We can’t go outside…” Kíli said rushing to keep up with them. They shrugged.

“He’ll never know.” The tallest boy said. He was a year or two older then Kíli, just barely within the age limit, with short cropped white hair. “Come on.” He said pushing the heavy metal doors open. The doors opened soundlessly, someone had already propped them open with a large rock so they wouldn’t get locked out. Kíli glanced around. His other teammates were loitering around in the hall, politely ignoring the boy with the white hair and his friends. If they didn’t see them go outside, then Dwalin couldn’t get mad at them for not saying something. Kíli ducked outside, narrowly avoiding stubbing his toe on the rock, and glanced around in the daylight. It was much brighter outside and cars whizzed by on the street. There was a man standing just outside the doors smoking, the white clad fencing students crowding around him pining for cigarettes. Kíli hung back when he recognized the man’s voice.

“Leave me alone.” Fíli said, making a shoeing motion with one of his hands. “I’m not going to give you a fag, yeah?”

“What you don’t promote lung cancer in kids under 15?” Kíli asked, crossing his arms. His brother looked up, and squared his shoulders, a tiny little motion Kíli had seen when he was getting ready to fight, or yell. “Doesn’t that make you a bit of a hypocrite? I remember you smoking when you were 13.” Fíli shrugged and his shrug was stiff.

“Maybe I just don’t want kids to make bad choices like I did.” He said and stomped out his cigarette. “Shouldn’t you lot be getting back to practice?”

“Why are you here?” Kíli asked. Seeing his brother again had brought all the anger that had started to die down, now he just wanted to yell until he couldn’t yell anymore. Fíli turned to look at him, one arm holding the door open part way.

“Dwalin asked me.” He said simply and headed inside. The boy with the white hair turned to look Kíli up and down.

“That’s your brother?”

Kíli nodded. The boy grinned and said something along the lines of how “brutal” Fíli was. Kíli’s jaw tightened and he followed as the rest of the boys headed inside, running to catch up with Kíli’s brother.

 

Fíli stood before his brother’s fencing team, one of the foils in his hand, the other in the pocket of his hoodie, watching silently was Dwalin talked. He watched his brother’s face, which was stoically turned forward, gazing at a section of wall just behind Dwalin’s head, pointedly avoiding his brother. Fíli swung the foil around in his hand and walked across the mat. He was wearing his ‘street cloths’ as Dwalin called them, a plain loose fitting long sleeved shirt, his hoodie, and a pair of track pants. His combat boots were sitting on the edge of the mat and his toes curled into the squishy foam beneath his socks.

“I thought it might be beneficial to you lot if you actually watch a champion fight, seeing as the semifinals are creeping up on us.” Dwalin said and Fíli glanced up. “Durinson here, has been fencing since he was about seven, and has won a few competitions himself. He’s come here at my request, when he’d much rather be moping alone somewhere far away, and I expect you all to be respectful of him, alright? Fíli you want to take up your en garde?” Fíli smirked and padded down to one end of the mat, lowering his body into his en garde. Dwalin pointed a few things out with the foil in his hand, hit Fíli’s calves, knees, back and wrists before motioning for Fíli to stand again.

“Now. Let’s see that he can do, yeah?” Dwalin nodded and pointed at Kíli. “Get up boy.”

“What?” Kíli asked rising slowly.

“Get up.” Dwalin repeated handing Kíli the foil he was holding. “I want to see how well you fare against your brother.” Fíli swallowed and watched Kíli making his way, grudgingly, to the other end of the mat. Dwalin hadn’t said anything about fighting his own brother over the phone. Of course Fíli had agreed to this before he’d gotten into a fight with his family.

“Dwalin, I don’t—” He started but the fencing master cut him off and strode in between them.

“No argument.” Dwalin barked. “Shake hands.” Both boys stepped forward and extending their arms. “A fair fight now, boys. No tricks.”

“Tell that to Fíli.” Kíli said scowling and turning back to his side, taking up his en garde once again. “Let’s just get this over with.” Fíli’s jaw tightened and he nodded bending his knees himself.

“Whenever you’re ready.” He said through clenched teeth. Dwalin stood with his arms crossed, surveying them before nodding and they started on his mark. Fíli looked his brother up and down, numb to any feeling, until his brother struck first, lunging forward quickly, forcing his brother backwards. Fíli blocked the blow and the next one, before pushing his brother back with his own set of lunges, but his little brother was quick and stuck out, hitting Fíli’s chest, hard.

“Good.” Dwalin called. “One for Kíli. Reset.” They brother resumed their stances on either side of the mat. “See boys,” Dwalin was saying. “There is a fine line between fencing and sword combat. Observe again.” Dwalin nodded and barked at them to begin again.

This time it was Fíli who lunged, striking out toward his brother with the foil. His brother parried too late and Fíli’s foil hit him in the stomach. They resumed positions, waiting patiently until Dwalin’s mark, but this round was different. Kíli didn’t lunge like he was taught to do in fencing, bouncing up off the mat, but lunging forward with ill intent, like snake, aiming low, for Fíli’s legs. Fíli jumped backwards, blocking the blow and twisted, bringing his foil down toward Kíli. Kíli blocked Fíli’s foil and grabbed his brother’s wrist, throwing Fíli backwards away from him. Fíli managed to pull his foil back up in time to block another blow, parrying and forcing his brother backwards. Kíli lunged again thrusting out, but Fíli saw the move coming and blocked, grabbing his little brother’s arm.

“What are you doing?” He hissed, pulling all 98 pounds of Kíli closer to him.

“I should ask you the same thing.” Kíli answered and tried to pull away but Fíli held him fast, “You ran away.” He accused and Fíli swallowed.

“Yeah. I know.” He said “But y’know not really. I _was_ still in town.”

“Fuck you, you still left.” Kíli spat and Fíli ground his teeth. He pushed his brother backwards. Kíli dropped into a roll and Fíli lost his footing for a moment, sending out a blindly sweeping thrust before turning and narrowly blocking his brother’s foil again.

“I’m sorry.” Fíli said, his brother’s foil was inches away from his face, kept at bay only by his. “I shouldn’t have left I’m sorry.” Hot raged burned in Kíli’s eyes as he turned away, mimicking his brother’s earlier move, a downward strike.

“That’s not good enough.” Kíli said.

“What do you want then?!” Fíli shouted lunging forward recklessly, all pretense of fighting only to protect himself gone. “Tell me what will make it okay again!” Kíli pulled back and trust forward toward Fíli’s stomach. His brother danced away and ripped another foil off the rack. Sweat plastered the hair to Fíli’s neck as he lunged forward again, oblivious to the eyes and cheers of Kíli’s team on the bleachers, or of Dwalin for that matter. He had the distinct impression that Dwalin was roaring at them to stop, but Fíli pushed forward tired now of this temper tantrum his brother was throwing. He hit Kíli on the calf finally, and soon himself felt the sting of the foil across his arm. Fíli hoisted the extra foil in one of his hands and threw it at Kíli. Kíli defected the projectile, and Fíli lunged at him, full on tackling him to the ground.

“Listen to me!” Fíli shouted, pinning Kíli to the mat. His brother squirmed under him, trying to twist away. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything and I need you to forgive me. I _need_ you to forgive me.” Kíli stopped squirming and looked up at his brother’s big grey eyes.

“Do you forgive me?” Fíli whispered. Kíli sighed and exhaled blowing his lank bangs out of his face.

“Yeah…” He murmured. “Of course.”

 

“How are you gonna get home?” Kíli asked and Fíli pointed to the blue Rambler parked across the street. Dwalin had removed them from his gyms shouting that they were a pair of clot-heads and to go work their problems out somewhere not his classroom and commenced to throw them out on to the sidewalk.

“Are you… Are you coming home?” Kíli asked and Fíli nodded.

“Yeah.” Fíli nodded and lit up a cigarette. “I should get going. I have to stop by the store and pick up a few things. And I don’t really want to face the wrath of Thorin yet.” Kíli nodded.

“Where were you?” Kíli asked looking up at his brother. Fíli stiffened and then relaxed.

“I was with Bofur.” He said.

“Your math tutor?” Kíli asked and Fíli nodded. They were silent for a minute, the roar of cars the only noise on the street. “Did you guys do it?”

“What?” Fíli looked down and his cheeks turned red. “No... Uh. I don’t… No!” Kíli grinned up at him impishly and the brother shared a laugh. “Don’t tell.” Fíli said.

“Cross my heart.” Kíli nodded once and crossed his arms, kicking at the sidewalk. “So. Uh. Okay then. I guess I’ll see you when I get home?” Kíli said and Fíli nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Fíli said and pulled his brother close to him. “I’m the one that should be sorry.” He let go of Kíli and looked up and down the street. “I gotta jet. I’ll see you at dinner.” Kíli nodded and waved goodbye as Fíli ran out into the street and jumped into his car. Sticking the cigarette between his lips Fíli started his car and pulled out into traffic, sticking an arm out, waving to Kíli before speeding off. Fíli drove quickly through the little winding streets of Ered Luin, heading through the cold town with the quite putt-putt of his engine. Fíli knew the town by the palm of his hand now, but that wasn’t something he could have always attested to; his first few weeks in town had been spend with a local map in his door pocket and ending up in the wrong places. But now, now he could find his way to most places pretty easily without having to pull out his inaccurate phone GPS.

In fact he made it all the way to the first aisle before he had to pull out his phone and dial up a friend.

_“Hello?”_

“Hey! Bombur. It’s me. I’m at the store.” Fíli said, finagling a shopping cart around a corner with one hand. “And uh, I need to know how to cook dinner.” Fíli could hear Bombur laughing on the other end, before he sobered up and asked Fíli exactly what he wants to cook.

“Oh. You know.” Fíli shrugged and pulled a can of eggs off the shelf, made a face and put them back. “Something that says ‘I’m sorry I ran away from home’ or ‘Sorry I punched my brother.’.” Bombur laughed again.

 _“Or maybe something along the lines of ‘I fucked my shop teacher oops’?”_ He asked and Fíli scoffed.

“He wasn’t _my_ shop teacher.” Fíli hissed into the phone. “Besides shouldn’t I be cooking you an ‘I fucked you brother, oops’ dinner, not my family?” Fíli glanced over and smiled sheepishly at the woman behind him. Fíli quickly steered himself away from her. “So ideas?”

 _“Well.”_ Bombur sighed over the phone and it sounded like he had pulled down a book. _“Something that takes a lot of time maybe?”_

“I don’t have a lot of time.” Fíli said. “How about rabbit? It’s on sale.”

 _“Yeah get that.”_ Bombur said and there was a rough noise from the other end like he was nodding to himself. _“One three pounder should do. Make sure you get it broken down. How does your family feel about mushrooms?”_

“Mushrooms? The magic kind of the food kind?” Fíli laughed to himself “They’re like Bilbo’s favorite food.”

_“Okay, then we’re gonna do braised rabbit with mushroom sauce alright?”_

The house was cold with Fíli let himself in, and dark. He fixed that quickly, building a fire in the sitting room before emptying his paper bags of purchases and running over to preheat the oven. Bombur had given him expert directions, and he’d written them down on the back of his receipt with an ink pen that had smudged when he’d shoved it into his pocket, but he was convinced that he could make up the parts he couldn’t read anymore.

“What are you doing back?”

Fíli spun a knife in his hand and a mushroom in the other. Bilbo was leaning against the doorway, in his nightshirt, sleepily staring at Fíli. Fíli turned back to the cutting board and continued prepping the mushrooms.

“I came home.” He said quickly, listening as Bilbo patted across the tile.

"Fíli, do you understand exactly how long your uncle's been looking for you?" Bilbo asked. "He's been up and down the town six times already, he's phoned your friends almost every night, he called the police, of course they said they couldn't do anything because you hadn't actually  _left town_ , useless tossers... He's worried sick. He hasn't been sleeping Fíli,"

"I know." Fíli responded swallowing and throwing his knife against the cutting board. "Yeah I know. I fucked up, yeah? And I'm sorry."

"Don't tell me you're sorry." Bilbo said "I'm not the one that's your legal guardian."

“I needed to be alone.” Fili said and Bilbo snorted. “You should put some slippers on. It’s cold.” Bilbo looked down at his bare feet and then back at Fíli.

“I know.” He said. “You built a fire.” Fíli nodded and dumped his mushrooms into a pan before turning and unwrapping the rabbit. “I’m glad you came home, even if I’m furious at you for leaving.” Bilbo told him and patted him on the shoulder. Fíli smiled and nodded.

“I’m glad I came home too.” He said pouring oil into the pan. “You know, we used to come here all the time with mom, when we were kids.” He told Bilbo, gently laying the rabbit down in the pan. “Kíli and I would call it the Mountain, cause this place was so huge,” The kitchen was starting to warm up slowly, and Fíli stripped off his hoodie and vest, dumping them onto the floor. Bilbo made a noise in the back of his throat and picked up the discarded clothing.

“Nice hickeys.” He grinned as he left the room to put up Fíli’s things. “When do we get to meet the mystery man huh?” Fíli laughed as Bilbo dragged a chair into the kitchen.

“Probably never.” Fíli told him setting the browned rabbit aside. His shirt was old, something that belonged to his dad, from when they made shirts thin and soft, and it hung on him with plenty of holes and did nothing against the cold.

“We used to call uncle the king under the mountain.” Fíli told Bilbo after a bit as he stirred the sauce. He’d already had to shoo Bilbo’s searching fingers away from the mushrooms. “And we would play these elaborate games and run amuck through his house and he woundn’t care.” Fíli laughed to himself, a short sharp noise. “Once, oh god this was good, once when we were older, we got these wooden swords and just like tore through the house like little monsters and uncle was having this really important dinner and we just busted in and jumped up on the table and just started fighting and oh Mahal it was funny. Uncle was furious of course, but eventually he was okay.” Fíli grinned widely again at Bilbo’s laughter.

“Now I understand why he told me to steer clear of you lot, you are little monsters.” Bilbo said. “Do you want some tea?” Fíli shrugged. “You should watch your cream; you don’t want it to curdle.” Fíli glared down at the sauce pan and pulled the receipt closer to his eyes. Bilbo laughed at him and wandered out of the kitchen with a mug of tea and cold feet. The house was silent for a moment for two and then Fíli could hear the scratching of a vinyl record from the other room before music filled up the cold house.

“Thought it might help.” Bilbo called as he headed up the stairs. “Don’t catch a cold down there. Call me when dinner is ready. There are table cloths in the linen closet and silver in the cupboard. Don’t burn the house down.”

Fíli shouted a brief thank you before lathering his rabbit in the sauce and sticking it into the oven. He found the linens and carpeted the table in them, smoothing out the white fabric like still water before setting out the silver and the plates. He remembered throwing the knives and forks around with his brother when they were children, to aggravate their mother, while Balin tried to wrangle them together. The rain had started again, and was pounding down against the windows, but he braved it anyway to uproot a few of Bilbo’s prized irises to put in a vase onto of the table. Bilbo wasn’t going to be too happy about that, but Fíli didn’t really care as he threw them into the vase and whipped his muddy hands on the rough canvas of his pants.

Fíli was halfway through lighting the candles when the door opened and his little brother ran through, dumping his things in the hallway and tracking mud into the foyer. Fíli grinned and winked at Kíli when his brother spotted him lighting the candles. Kíli smiled brilliantly and rushed into the room to hug his brother. Fíli could hear Bilbo on the stairs and his uncle talking quietly to the other.

“It smells great in here.” Thorin was saying. “Did you cook?”

“I wish I could say that I did.” Bilbo responded and Fíli could hear them making gross couple noises before Bilbo lead Thorin into the dining room. Fíli swallowed as he met his uncle’s eyes, his brother backing off.

“Hello.” Fíli said quietly. “I am sorry that I ran off, Uncle, and it won’t happen again. I was being childish and immature and I apologize. I hope you can forgive me.” Fíli bowed his head gently in Thorin’s direction and waited for some kind of reaction. He didn’t know how long he stood there, it felt like hours honestly, but it couldn’t have been more than a moment or too, before Fíli was suffocating under his uncle’s embrace. Fíli heaved a great sigh of relief and wrapped his arms around his uncle in return, burying his head in Thorin’s shoulder, like he did when he was young.

“Don’t ever, _ever_ do that again do you understand me?” Thorin said as they pulled apart. “What you did was immature and it was dangerous. It was reckless and stupid. But I forgive you,” He leaned his head forward to touch it gently to his nephew’s, a hand on the back of his neck. “Now, if my nose does not deceive me, it smells as though you cooked something wonderful?”

“I hope.” Fíli grinned and rubbed at the wateriness in his eyes. “But just as a backup, I have the number of the pizza place on speed dial.” 


End file.
